Friday, October 31, 2008

How quickly things change.........

Today's blog post was all planned out in my head and was supposed to be about (strangely) one of the most exciting things in our "loot" that we came away with at SAFF. This.........



Not sure what that is?

How about now?


Any ideas? Take another good look.



That's right - worms. We bought worms at SAFF. Let me say that again for all of you confused fiber folk out there - yes, we actually bought worms at SAFF and were astonishingly excited about it. Enough so that I planned to devote my entire blog post today to these crazy new pets.

John and Donna had the booth next to us. Wayne and John just went on and on and on talking and talking like 2 little school girls the entire weekend. I thought they were funny and I was so glad that Mr. Man had someone to talk to while I was busy talking fiber. He didn't get bored at all. We only knew them for a couple of days but they are one of those couples that we just felt like we had already known for a lifetime. I didn't get a chance to talk to them as much as Wayne did though, unfortunately. John and Donna sold handmade soap and they also promoted organic gardening. John makes these "worm houses" and was selling them. You use these to put your compost in and the worms break it down really fast giving you the most excellent organic soil ever for growing veggies.

John taught Wayne an amazing dearth of information about all kinds of things - especially worms. So, on Sunday we were all excited to take our bucket of worms home and start with the natural composting - something we were already doing but not nearly this efficiently. We settled them in under a nice warm window. After we got home, Wayne emailed John with more questions about organic gardening and worms and such. He was really learning a lot.

Until this morning.

We got an email from Donna this morning telling us that she was so sorry to send us sad news. John had a heart attack and died right after SAFF. Ummmm......what?!?!
We couldn't believe it and were in total shock. This is a guy who was in great shape, did lots of hiking, ate right, lived as organically as possible and he just died. Just gone. John and Donna were married for 32 years and together for 37. They were best friends. That makes the second friend that I have had in just a few months that has lost her husband suddenly like that. I just don't know how you go on and I wish that neither one of these wonderful women had to figure it out. I wake up every single morning and am thankful that I have another day with this wonderful, loving, caring friend that I am lucky enough to be able to call my husband.

I told Donna that I'm not sure what it says about John's posterity but that we would be thinking about him everytime we look at those worms. I think he would probably like the idea of that.
I will leave you with the words that Donna wrote to me this morning:
"Hold onto each other"

14 comments:

turtlegirl76 said...

That is so sad. I had chatted briefly with him before we left & when I had bought some of the lotion. I'm looking at the jar right here...so sad. My heart goes out to Donna.

Anonymous said...

That's completely heartbreaking. Donna is in my thoughts.

theyarnwhisperer said...

OMG! How awful! Its always so heartbreaking and dumbfounding when somebody leaves so suddenly like that. Its like you want to say, "Wait, wait..we weren't done. Not yet."
Please give Donna my condolences and let her know that even if I don't know her, she is in mya thoughts.

Hockey Mom said...

I remember seeing him and Wayne with their heads close together chatting. I also thought it was great he had found someone to hang with.

My thoughts go to Donna.

Anonymous said...

John and Donna's web site is http://johnnae.com

Anonymous said...

That is so sad! Sorry to hear about it.
My son's 4th grade class just started a worm box it will be interesting to see how it goes. We have an outdoor classroom ( aka a garden) so I think that is where all the compost will end up. Good luck with yours

Diane Bogino said...

Hi;

So sorry about the sad news.

But I'm so proud of you two. You did a terrific job on the booth.

Tell everyone about your stamps...I just bought some...they are so cute!

You Mom

Anonymous said...

That is horrible. I feel for Donna, I really do!
I like the worm farm thing, that is really great. Will it have a smell after a certain length of time? I would love to have one of those.

Jane said...

Oh my goodness, that is so sad. There has been way too much death in and around our circle of friends this year.

Turtle said...

that is so sad! always seems to happen to good people so unexpectedly.

Farmer Jen said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

My thoughts and prayers go out to Donna. May she be comforted by her memories.

RobbinMT said...

Oh,oh... i am so sorry for you, and my heart goes out to hold Donna.

Let us know how the worms work out, however - I have always wondered how we could raise them up north - are keeping them (permanently) in the house? or outside? or?

mel said...

Oh Brittany... I'm reading back through your posts and was intrigued by the worms and this just made me bawl. I'm so sorry to hear this - how wnderful that you got to meet him and share this. And share your love of gardening and the earth. Please do keep us posted on the little guys - we've been talking about this as a possibility lately. and how great that John could keep on passing on his knowledge through you all.