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Tuesday 8 May 2018

Farewell to my friend

My dear friend Sue recently passed away and I can hardly believe she is gone.



We moved across the road from her and her family in 1984 and my 3 year old son saw some kids playing over there and went right over there and started playing with them.

Sue and I bonded over the kids and our love of Jane Austen books. We were busy bring up children and it wasn't until 13 years later that Sue introduced me to patchwork.

Here is a photo of us from 2 years ago, we spent so much time together that we didn't take many photos of each other.



She was always there on the end of the phone or email. We emailed daily. As soon as something happened, be it a major event like an engagement or new baby or just an annoying experience from a trades person we would contact each other about it.

Back in those early patchwork days we would travel to different patchwork shops on a weekly basis and often get lost because we were both hopeless with directions. So much fun and laughter though.

I rang Sue the day before she went into hospital for elective surgery and we were discussing our next outing and planning our trip to Uluru in August.

Unfortunately she didn't revive well from the anaesthetic and developed pneumonia and just couldn't recover.


Sue, Me and Annemarie in 2006

Sue loved applique quilts and was always making lovely soft quilts with flowers on them. 

Our family spent many a Christmas lunch at her place and Sue was such a good cook and prepared a magnificent feast every year. We were at all her family events, like birthdays, weddings and engagements and she and her husband Bob were at all our big occasions as well.


I found a couple of old photos of us. Here is one from 1991 when she had her red hair.



Here is another photo from my 40th birthday



Sue changed her hair style a lot more than me.


Our lives were so entwined and I miss her so much. She was a life changing friend for me, she introduced me to patchwork, she decided that we would join Waverley Patchworkers and of course quilting has become such a major part of my life.

Treasure your friends, life goes by so quickly and can change in an instant.

Bye for now,
Linda

14 comments:

Robbie said...

I think you know about my losing Sally last July...some friends are just that special...not taking away from any of our friends but the loss is so deep. I can relate to what you are feeling...I can't tell you how many times I want to message Sally or text her to this day. You are right...we need to hold our friends close to us and cherish every minute we have with each other...again, so sorry for your loss...

Linda Steele said...

I do remember you losing your friend Sally. I know exactly what you mean, I keep wanting to run to the computer to tell Sue something that happened.

Sharon said...

My sincere condolences Linda... Hugs x x

crazynewbie said...

Sorry for your loss Linda. My, how we love our cherished friends. And how we grieve when they’ve gone. Treasure every moment while we can.�� Claire

nestki said...

She was a true blessing. May her memory continue to be a blessing for all who knew her.

Linda Steele said...

Thank you Sharon, I was very lucky to have met Sue all those years ago.

Linda Steele said...

Thank you Claire, Sue was a wonderful and generous friend to me.

Linda Steele said...

I do feel blessed to have met Sue Nestki. She was kind and welcoming to whoever she met.

Mandy Currie said...

Dear Linda, I've been following your blog for a while but haven't commented. Then today I read your story about your friend, I am so sorry I know just how devastating it is to lose such a close friend, my friend passed last year. I will keep you in my prayers. God bless Kind regards Mandy xx

Linda Steele said...

Thank you for taking the time to comment Mandy and I am sorry to hear your friend passed away as well. It is very comforting to hear from people.

jude's page said...

Sympathy to you Linda, thinking of you, it's not easy to lose someone so close to us.

Linda Steele said...

Thanks Jude, I wasn't sure if I'd write a post about Sue or not because she was such a private person but she's been such an important person in my life I had to acknowledge her.

Gina E. said...

My sincere condolences Linda. One of my oldest friends (since we were 15) died last year, and it has been so hard to come to terms with, as she was the same age as me and we had so much in common. I think it was a beautiful tribute that you posted to Sue here on your blog.

Linda Steele said...

Thank you Gina, I suppose now we are getting older we are going to start losing those special to us. I am sorry about your friend. xx