A happy house can hold many stories at once: a Dublin childhood in crowded flats, a love found under theatre lights, twins born on a date that tied past to present, and a long illness that forced two good people to rewrite their future. We sit with Anne as she opens the door to all of it—how sharing half a bag of sugar on the balcony shaped her sense of community, why Dermot’s gentle wisdom made her a kinder version of herself, and what it takes to face Parkinson’s and Lewy body dementia without losing your humour or your heart.

The conversation moves from tenderness to toughness. Anne explains the shock of a fast-moving diagnosis, the invisible labour of home care, and the day the safest choice became the hardest: choosing a nursing home. She breaks down Ireland’s Fair Deal scheme in plain language—solicitors, valuations, court affidavits—and names the guilt many carers carry even when they’ve done everything right. Out of that pain comes practical advice: document relentlessly, accept help, protect your health, and do the things you’re planning now because tomorrow isn’t promised. Dermot’s legacy lives on in Youthreach students who say he changed their direction with respect and real talk, and in two daughters who stand up for themselves and others with clear eyes and warm hearts.

There’s joy threaded through the grief. Anne’s a beloved school traffic warden—“only the lollipop lady,” she jokes—who turns Christmas gifts into charity, sees children’s quiet COVID losses up close, and keeps a neighbourhood stitched together with a wave and a kind word. She talks about acceptance as everyday practice when Susanna came out, and how homemade “Come Dine With Me” nights, bingo with friends, and bargain champagne became small, steady anchors. The message you’ll carry with you is simple and brave: be kind, ask for help, make ordinary days big, and tell people you love them while you can.

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