I realize that my blog is about crafting, but I need to talk about more than that today.  If you watch my videos, you’ve noticed that I send a lot of “thinking of you” cards.  I’ve mentioned that I have two friends who are ill.  My heart is heavy as last night a lovely wonderful woman named Tammy passed away from brain cancer.  She and I worked together for many years and I watched her sons grow from very young, to adult men.

When her boys were in first and second grades, they had a day that you could bring your mother to lunch.  Tammy asked me if I wanted to come with her and of course, I said yes.  The boys were so happy to see her and talked throughout the lunch period about their day and things going on at school.  They were so excited to see me and made sure I liked my peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  I’ve never forgotten that day or how much she loved her kids and how much they loved her.

When I heard she was ill, I called her and said I’d do anything she needed including making sure her son could come home from college to see her whenever he needed.  Within a couple of weeks, we got a call from him and asked if we could bring him home.  It never crossed my mind to do anything but help him.  I knew how much he loved his mother and his desperation to see her.  We had a couple of hours to reconnect with him and we were glad to spend the time together.

Tammy divorced when her kids were very young and raised her boys with the help of her mother and her sister.  A few years ago, she found the man of her dreams and they were married in September.  We had lunch together a couple weeks after the wedding and she said she was a Mrs. now and giggled really hard as she was so happy and proud to be his wife.  I can’t help but cry when I think about that moment and how fleeting life can be.

She knew she was sick and wore her wig with pride.  She’d talk about how itchy it was and would pull it off without hesitation.  That’s one of the many things I loved about Tammy.  It didn’t bother her that she was bald (at least she never acted like it did.)  She never complained about her disease or the fact that she wouldn’t see her granddaughter grow up.  She always had a big smile on her face and seemed determined to live forever.  The last time I spoke to her a couple of months ago, we were going to have lunch, but Tammy had a cold and didn’t want to expose me to it.  So I was going to call her in a couple of weeks.  I will never forgive myself for not calling soon enough.  A couple weeks later, hospice was called in and my calls to her cellphone went unanswered.  I’ve continued to send cards to her almost weekly and  miss her sweet personality and smiling face.  I’m so angry that she that she spent so many years alone and finally found her true love only to lose everything.  I’ll miss her very much and know that her sons will carry on her legacy of love and laughter.

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