A Flower for a Friend.

I'm posting this flower for a friend. She's in my thoughts and prayers as she fights for her life right now. Last Summer she finished her last chemo from breast cancer. In November everything looked great and she had reconstruction surgery and everything was supposed to be on the way up. Unfortunately, recovery from the surgery was tough and less than a month later she found lumps in the other side of her chest and was experiencing headaches. She had cancer again and this time it was worse and growing fast in her brain and lungs. She had surgery to remove it from her brain and just finished radiation about a month ago. She was just feeling a bit better from the sickness of that and yesterday I got the news that the lung cancer was worse than they thought and she isn't expected to make it through the week. Within an hour or so I got an update that she wasn't expected to make it through the day. Such shocking news and soooo sad.

I'm so glad that I got to know her and spend time with her in this past year. She's one of the sweetest people I've ever met. She's so kind and caring to everyone she meets and has a soft, sweet voice. She's smart and talented. She's a great mom to her two boys. She has a great little yarn shop going in Old Town Temecula too. She opened it a little over a year ago as a crochet shop and named it "Crochet Cafe". She was surprised to see how many people knit and she quickly started carrying knitting supplies and learned to knit. I took my spinning wheel in a few times and she caught the spinning bug too. A few of us went to the Santa Monica fiber fest last year and she bought herself a spinning wheel and we came back that night and I tought her to spin. She's a natural and was quickly spinning beautiful yarns and selling them at her store. A couple of ladies were even fighting over who was getting that first yarn that she made to sell. She had chairs and tea and cookies in her store and made sure everyone knew that they were welcome to come and sit and hang out knitting, crocheting or just visiting anytime. She started regular knit/crochet times one night a week and one morning. They grew quickly to the point that the store is literally overflowing with people. There was often a group sitting in the store and a group outside in the courtyard. It's a great place to meet a lot of wonderful ladies that share a passion for knitting, crochet, yarn and other fibery fun hobbies. She also carries a great selection of yarns that I don't see anywhere else...kelp/silk, shrimp/chiton, bamboo, corn, etc.

I don't know the latest on her condition. I just know that I'm feeling very sad about what is happening to her. And even though I'm going to miss her sooo much, I know it won't compare to what her boys (16 and 18) are going through, and what her parents must be going through. It seems so unfair that someone so sweet would have to go through this and that her life could be cut so short. I'm sad that her boys won't have her with them as they finish maturing, get married, have kids, and on and on. I guess that's how life is though. We never know what the next day will hold or how long we have. We need to make the best of every moment. And, with that I'm so happy for Debra that she spent this last year with her own yarn shop, doing what she loved, and surrounding herself with the love of her many new friends.

I love you Debra and I'll miss you so much.

UPDATE: Debra passed away peacefully last night at about 11 p.m.
:'-(