Bubbles for Becky - 24th December 2007

On the 24th December 1980, in Christchurch Woman’s Hospital, Christchurch, New Zealand, the blonde-haired, blue-eyed gift that was Rebecca Louise Crawley was born.

Right from the first seconds of her life Rebecca was not one to “follow the crowd”. She decided to come into this world face-up rather than face-down, which meant a difficult forceps delivery for both Heather and Rebecca. She came into the world her way, and that is the way she lived her life.

Just a few minutes after her arrival, and as her mother recovered from the pain of her birth (a very small amount of which I shared with Heather as she had squashed my left hand so hard during Rebecca’s birth that the ring indentations in my two fingers adjacent to my ring-finger remained for hours), I got to hold my first-born little girl in my arms. And as I stared into her beautiful blue eyes in those first moments of her life, I was lost forever in the enchantment that was Rebecca.

I also apologised to her for “bringing her into such a cruel world ruled by Robert Muldoon”!

Today it is 24th December 2007, the day Rebecca would be turning 27 years old.

From that first moment of her life when I was caught in the enchanting spell that was Rebecca Louise Crawley, a spell that also enchanted her mother Heather, her siblings and then her husband Hayden Stockwell, along with countless family, friends, acquaintances and business associates all around the world, Rebecca touched the hearts and lives of all of those she met.

In fact one lady who was also staying on Matamanoa Resort Island, the night before negligence led to her death, was deeply touched by Rebecca purely because of the way Rebecca smiled at her as they passed.

So today, less than a month after she was so cruelly taken from us, to all who ever had the amazing good fortune to know Rebecca and even to those whose lives were touched by her even if you never met her in person, please find a glass of Bubbly at sometime today and raise a toast to Rebecca.

Happy Birthday Rebecca.

Bubbles for Becky, forever to be 26.