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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Lifestyle
Maxine Fawcett

The moment I knew: grief almost pushed me under but he held me to his chest and at last I exhaled

A man and woman stand in front of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, lit up with the Olympics logo, in the year 2000.
‘We took up beach-running, we learned to order flat whites’: Maxine Fawcett with Dax in Sydney in 2000. Photograph: Supplied

Dax and I met at a work Christmas party shortly after I lost my first love to a sudden heart attack. I’d been spending a good amount of time under the covers on my futon (it was the 90s). Even when I emerged, the fog of grief followed me every day.

After that party – and after too many bottles of red – I kissed Dax. But that drunken get-together was the beginning.

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