Page 13 of My Kind of Happy

Meeting people from other cultures

Putting a smile on someone else’s face

And a million other things I haven’t even thought of yet

So there you have it. Your big brother has a plan and it’s not the one I thought I’d have. I might be an ordinary human, but I’m determined NOT to have an ordinary life.

And I want you to promise me, little Sis, that you’ll think about this. Don’t just settle. As the saying goes, go big or go home. I think you only chose to study Business Studies at Manchester because Laura was going there.

But what does Fearne Lovage REALLY want??

If I could give you one gift it would be to choose happiness over habit every time – do things because they make you happy, not just because it’s a habit you’ve fallen into. I know it’s a cliché but we really do only get one life and you and I are only just beginning ours, so let’s live it to the max.

Be happy, Sis, don’t let me down on this.

Lots of love\nYour slightly crazy brother

Freddie xx

When Hamish and Laura returned with our tea I’d pulled Scamp onto my lap, my tears soaking his fur, Freddie’s letter on the floor beside me.

‘Oh, Fearney.’ Laura dropped to my side and hugged me close.

‘You need to read this.’ I handed her the letter and she and Hamish read it together while I mulled over Freddie’s words. What a powerful letter. At the age of twenty-two, Freddie had set out the code for his life. And for the rest of his time on earth, the short fourteen years which had followed, he’d lived his life exactly as he’d planned.

But as well as that, Freddie had asked me a very important question: what does Fearne Lovage want? Perhaps the time had come for me to find out.