The Luxe of Love

Lorna & John Andrews - aka: LornaLuxe

Scrolling through my social media feed one evening, I came across a video of an account from someone called LornaLuxe. Okay I thought, let's see what's this is all about shall we?

I watched an influencer talking about the clothes she was wearing, her bag, her make-up. Her older husband walked up to her, planting a kiss on her cheek, with a smile wider than the English Channel. So why was this different to other videos? It was different because his smile was genuine. I was impressed.

By now, I would have scrolled up and dismissed the content of yet another showcase of 'lovely things', but I carried on watching with curiosity and found myself liking the page and going through older posts to catch up with the story so far.

I'm talking about LornaLuxe - real name Lorna Andrews and her husband John Andrews. Married influencers with Lorna as front of house, I began to enjoy what I was seeing as they were 'real'. Compared to other influencers who show perfect houses, styled within an inch of their lives, declarations of "never a cross word and our marriage has been plain sailing" with their affluent husbands, beautifully mannered children and middle class pursuits keeping them busy in their Stepford lives - Lorna and John were different. And thank God for that!

Lorna and John opened up the floor to questions. Ask away they'd say - their age gap, how they earn their money, past relationships/marriages - no taboo subjects. I found this wonderfully refreshing and I felt a huge amount of respect towards them for it, and I also found myself invested in their journey.

Whilst they waltzed around on lush European city breaks looking fabulous, they were equally exceptionally down to earth, Lorna talking to camera in her northern lilt with no make-up on, talking about going to the shops, binge-watching Netflix, issues with their house renovations, it was like listening to one of my friends delivering a voice note on WhatsApp - it felt familiar and honest.

What was also honest was their love. No show-mance. Truth be told, I've never been a fan of age-gap relationships, I've seen the negative side of it through people I know and I have never championed it, and yet they were proof of how it worked and I was glad to have been proven wrong.

The reason I write in past tense is that within their honest daily online diary videos, they were transparent about John's battle with cancer. I watched as John's treatment was documented, and they celebrated the little victories that happened. But then Lorna delivered the news that John was in palliative care, the videos became fewer, and then came the announcement that John had passed away. My heart sank for a couple I never knew, but yet the daily snippet of their lives had become part of my routine, as much as making my breakfast was.

Now a widow, Lorna has already said she will continue with her career, a career that John had cheer-led and encouraged her to forge. I hope that the genuine stance will continue, I want to hear the good and the bad - keep being the influencer with a difference Lorna! Whilst Lorna may have more designer shoes than me, I like to think of her as being one of us girls, someone who could join my gal-pals over a glass of wine and whinge about all things middle-aged.

In the times of sorrow that will inevitably follow, I hope Lorna will be comforted by the love that John gave her, his adoring smiles, he clearly worshiped her, what a wonderful thing to have experienced. Something that most of us can only day-dream about, but it was their reality, the way he looked at her, with genuine love - that was definitely the luxe of love.....