January 3: A Tribute to a DEAR FRIEND

Rebecca came into my life when we moved to Tennessee.  At first, she was just a colleague at school, but then we found that we made each other laugh, cry, and simply enjoyed time spent together.  I taught her to quilt, and she taught me to be tolerate of everyone that was different from me.

We had wacky adventures going to Jackson to take a quilt class.  We went to tea and explored antiques.  We sat in her office and she fed me chocolate and let me rake her zen garden more times than I can count.  We talked about everything and nothing.  I am pretty certain she is the only guidance counselor I would have sent my own kids to see.  She was just so special and the students responded to her calm Southern charm.

One day she thought she was having a heart attack.  Turns out that she just forgot to take off her seatbelt.  I made her a teddy bear with a seatbelt strapped to a board to help commemorate that piece of silliness.  We laughed about that every time we talked!!!  There was also the time that she came over after church to have me quilt a special little quilt for a church member.  She really shocked us by driving into the wall of the garage,  damaged the house, but not her sense of calm! She received new business cards from me that suggested that she was opening a new business in demolition.

When I moved to Minnesota, she came to visit and met a number of my Texas friends.  That was a week of laughter and friendship like I never experienced before.  She just made us all feel so good with her silliness, make that craziness, followed up with her Southern ways of calmness and caring.

She made another visit to Minnesota and met most of my family.  She loved the grandkids and gave them little ponies that she tried to convince them could really eat and play.  They still ask about whether that only worked for Rebecca.  She fell in love with the family and always commented when Jamie sent her the monthly postcard.

When Rebecca retired from teaching and counseling, she planned to become a elder minister in her church.  She would have been good at it.  Crazy, compassionate, loving, and deeply faith filled .While I was in Vermont, we talked on the phone for hours and shared stories of school, quilting, family, what was next for each us. and other plan silliness. We also shared our faith and lifted each other up.

When she found out we were moving to South Dakota we started planning for another adventure in South Dakota.  That will never happen, now.  Rebecca was killed in an automobile accident.  The world has been deprived of a gracious and caring woman, but Heaven has gained a wonderful soul.

I will miss you sweet friend, but someday we will be together again.  I love you!


Life is GOOD, but there are parts that we can't understand, yet!