There is a photograph of ColinThiele

in among the family photographs in the albums Middle Cat and I are now going through. 

I did not know it was there. He is sitting there with the Senior Cat. I think it was taken at a national conference the Senior Cat once organised.  They are both wearing name tags. 

It was not that which caught my eye however. What caught my eye was the closeness of their relationship. It comes out in that photograph. Colin must have had his photograph taken hundreds of times. He was a "big" name, not just as an author but also as an educator. 

He could easily have ended up as one of those people who fame spoils. I have known a few of those. They change... or perhaps their true personality comes through. 

Colin was not like that. He remained someone who was genuinely interested in other people to the end. He somehow, through all the severe pain of his increasing lack of mobility due to arthritis, managed to retain his sense of humour. People liked him for that. 

Colin retained his closest friends too - the Senior Cat was one of them. They did not see one another often but, when they did, they picked up their friendship where they had left off. They inquired with genuine interest about each other's families, about mutual friends and the work each was doing.  Colin once wanted to know how a particular conjuring trick was done. It was not so he could give the game away but because he thought he needed to understand before using the idea of it in another setting.  I remember him sitting there with the Senior Cat and having all the enthusiasm of a young boy being taught his first conjuring trick. Like the Senior Cat he could remember what it was like to be a child - and still revel in it.

Perhaps that is what brought the two of them so close together.  It's a good photograph. Middle Cat put it into the "keep" pile.