For Jean.
Music for the podcast was provided by and used with the permission of these artists:
- Deirdre Flint – Cheerleader
- Jim Fidler – I Still Remember
- Patty Griffin – Heavenly Day
Episode 65: Absent Friends
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To Jean!!! And to you Brenda, may you be well.
What a touching and moving celebration of your friend’s life. Thank you for sharing that with me.
It is amazing how friendships survive, no matter the distance and through the years, your love for Jean will continue forever and thank you for reminding me of what is important.
Blessings from NYC
Thank you for sharing your love and loss for Jean . . .
Today, I’m getting together with my best knitting friend. I will be remembering Jean as we raise our glasses at dinner tonight.
Just listened to this episode, will raise a glass tonite to Jean. She will never really be absent from your life.
All the best to you Brenda. And thanks to Jean for teaching you to knit so that you can share with us all.
Brenda:
I appreciate your sincerity and your willingness to share the difficult moments of your life with your podcast listeners.
I am one of the people who has “listened back” in order to catch every episode that you have produced, and I remember well your mention of your friend Jean, whom I am so sorry to hear has passed away. Yes, the folks who teach knitters to knit are special indeed, and your episode was a fitting tribute to your friendship with Jean.
May you be well, exceedingly well, and I hope to see you back strong as ever soon.
Best,
Ai Lu
Hi Brenda. I’m so sorry to hear about your dear friend. My partner works at legacy.com, a company that hosts online obits and guestbooks. I found Jean’s and thought you might be interested in seeing it. http://www.legacy.com/oregon/GB/GuestbookView.aspx?PersonId=112383621 Hope that link works. Lots of hugs. -SBE
Brenda,
You have no idea how your podcast soothed my soul when I was going through a difficult time about 2 1/2 years ago. Learning how to knit was a saving grace and knitting while I was listening to you helped me make it through. I am so thankful that Jean taught you how to knit and blessed that you created Cast-On.
Your tribute to Jean was truly moving. May you find comfort in knowing that what you do means so much to so many people.
All the best to you,
Sharon Trimbo
Many hugs and heartfelt thanks to both you and Jean, and a virtual qiviut shawl to wrap yourself in.
Brenda,
So sorry for your loss. I have never heard you so somber before.
On a totally different note:
I can NOT beleive you were once a cheerleader!!!!
may you find comfort among friends, family, and fibre. {{{hugs}}}
I listened to your podcast on the day you posted it as I also live in the UK.
It touched me so deeply that I shed tears for your loss as I too have experienced losing (too many) dear ones.
Sending you best wishes Brenda, and I raise a glass to Jean and to you.
Hi Brenda,
So sorry for your loss. Jean sounds like she was a wonderful lady. Hugs.
Ang
Hello Brenda,
I only started listening to your podcasts a couple of months ago, and I have just finished series 2. I didn’t want to jump ahead in the podcasts, but when I saw this title it struck a cord. I am so sorry for your loss. I know how hard it can be to have oceans between friends and family. I live in Chile with my husband and two daughters; my mother is in the UK and my brother in the USA.
I just wanted to say how much I enjoy your podcasts. I have a few friends here who knit, and a few who speak english, but none that do both. So, it is so nice to hear your lovely voice talking about knitting in english, taking me back to the countries I have left behind.
Once again, I am sorry that you lost someone so close to you. Thankyou for sharing your life and heart with so many people.
Elizabeth
my heart is with you and jean
Brenda, I am so sorry for your loss. Because of your beautiful tribute, I’m feeling the loss of Jean, as well. She, and you, will be on my mind…
Shannon
Dear Brenda-
I am not (yet) a knitter but have enjoyed the fruits of many a labor through the gift of Jean’s hands and heart…I am her sister in Chicago and I just want to extend a warm loving thanks to you for sharing Jean with the knitting community of which she was a big part.
Brenda, my heart goes out to you and I truly feel the pain of your loss–of your dear friend Jean as I too continue to grieve the loss of my “Irish twin” sister. Jean was such a remarkable individual on so many levels–and it is so wonderful to hear how she touched so many lives in so many different ways…so many more individuals than we ever-ever imagined. I feel so blessed to have had her as my own sister, yes, as quirky as she was! As I listened to your podcast I had tears streaming down my face the entire time while you shared a special part of yourself much like Jean always did with all her family and friends. Jean was always celebrating LIFE and expects us to do the same.
Thank you, Brenda, for being such a special part of Jean’s “family” in Portland.
And please continue to share your gifts with others–
And Jean, I will always toast to you and Dad!
fondly,
Karen Wenzel Weigel
It was pleasure to read your tribute to Jean and the comments that followed.
She lived life to the fullest and it is comforting to hear of the many lives she touched.
It is indeed a small world.
Jean’s Mom,
Chesterton, Indiana
46304 USA
{Brenda!!}
May the memories carry you and Jean’s loved ones through the dark days ahead.
Thank you for sharing yourself — the good and the bad days — with us.
To your dear friend Jean – I raise my glass, knit and reflect on how precious those special people in our lives are and how much they are missed.
Brenda,
I have listened to your podcast for months since I started knitting last October, it is the first time I leave a comment. I have caught up listening to the podcast since the first episode and heard you talk about Jean in so many occasion, how she helped you to pick your first project, the cable sweater that was way too big, you met her again in Portland recently, etc. I have certain image of her in my head even though I don’t know how she really looked like. Human connection can be such a weird thing! I don’t really know her, but my eyes gone wet today while hearing the news, so I decided to leave a comment.
You are right, without her, we wouldn’t have met each other, all of us.
I am so sorry for your lost (and our lost in a way, for a great knitter). May strength be with you and Jean’s loved ones. Rest assured that Jean has definitely changed the world by her stitches.
Dear Brenda-
I received a call from your friend, Kathy, who shared with me the heart felt tribute you offered via podcast in my sister, Jeans honor. Wow, I can’t tell you how much it meant to her family. My Mother and I went out to Portland last week and we were blessed to meet her MANY friends- Pug friends, hiking friends, ER friends, neighbor friends, Peace Corp friends and of course many knitting friends. The depth and breadth of connections Jean had made was really unbelievable to us. We were so happy to see the Portland community (and beyond) appreciated the smart, generous, passionate, funny, quirky person she was. You may know my Dad was a teacher and an inspiration (whom we sadly lost 12/22/07) and Jean would be so pleased to know her teaching -the art of knitting – was appreciated and will be lovingly passed on. Thanks also for the sweet comments of your listeners; they are really a balm during a very difficult time. Please send loving thoughts as we memorialize Jean Thursday July 17th in our home town of Chesterton, Indiana. We will be drinking champagne (that she had left at Christmas ) in her honor! Love, Meg Wenzel Kovacs
Oh and I posted a picture at
http://www.legacy.com/oregon/GB/GuestbookView.aspx?PersonId=112383621
First I laughed. Then I was terribly afraid when you spoke of endings that you were ending the podcast. And then I cried. The funny thing about the internet is the attachment that I’ve formed in my mind with so many people that I’ve not met, and in your case Brenda, never even spoken to. But my heart went out to you, and I felt the same sense of panicked inadequacy I always do when faced with a friend who has experienced a loss. My thanks go to both yourself and Jean for your generosity of spirit, for your ability to share, teach, and create.
Brenda,
I’ve been a faithful listener since the beginning but this is the first time I’ve left a comment. Your recent podcast touched me in ways I cannot begin to express here. I am so sorry for your loss and will raise a glass to your dear friend Jean. I will also honor the memory of my friend, Stephanie, who left me too early some 20 years ago.
Thank you for sharing your life with us; although we’ve never met, I’m honored to be a part of your virtual community at this time.
May you and Jean’s family find comfort and strength during this difficult time.
Peace,
Paula, in Ohio
Brenda,
The stitches on my needles became blurry as I listened to this podcast, from the tears in my eyes. I’m sorry for your loss – at the same time, what a blessing you had in a friend like Jean.
Brenda,
I am so sorry. Last night, after listening to the episode, I raised my glass to absent friends. I am thinking of you and hoping you find comfort in our craft, and in the support of everyone who loves you, and loved Jean.
Brenda,
I am so sorry to hear of your loss. I have faith that the love and happy memories that you have of Jean, as well as her wonderful gift of knitting will get you through this very difficult time. It is always difficult to loose a friend, but even more so when it is sudden, and completely unexpected.
To absent friends.
~Magpie
Brenda,
I was so sorry to hear of your loss. Jean sounds like she was a lovely lady – I can only imagine the hole in your heart her death has left behind. As I sat in my lonely hotel room on Wednesday night, I listened to your voice create a memory of her for all of us. The stitches blurred on my needles and I raised my glass of wine – “To Jean and other absent friends. And to Brenda for her grief”.
- Pam
Wow. What a tribute to your friend. The reason I like your podcast so much is that it is not really about knitting, but about life. This episode was very moving, although I knew what was coming I still had tears in my eyes when I listened to it a second time.
just listened today.
man.
will raise a glass tonight. to *all* of our absent.
my sister just posted to Goodreads this lovely quotation from *Jayber Crow* by Wendell Berry:
“I saw that, for me, this country would always be populated with presences and absences, presences and absences, the living and the dead. The world as it is would always be a reminder of the world that was and of the world that is to come.” – p. 132.
Hi Brenda, I was very moved by this episode. I didn’t know what was coming so it hit me hard. It is so wonderful to listen to someone who can communicate as beautifully as you. I have been listening to you, in the distance, for some time now (even though I am not much of a knitter) and I appreciate that you can let us into your life so intimately. I am very sad for your loss. Best Riley.
Just got around to listening to episode 65. Brenda, I just can’t tell you how sorry I am for your loss. Jean sounds like a wonderful woman, and I’m sure you will miss your dear friend. Hugs.
Brenda-
I miss you. I miss your voice, and your words.
Thank you for sharing Jean with us.
Hugs.
Maxly
Hi Brenda:
I am a relatively new listener to your podcast, just a few months, but it has been a very important part of my life during this short time and I have downloaded all the old episodes and started from the beginning. I’ve been coming out of a pretty difficult few years in my own life, and one of the real necessary steps in this has been to get back into some sort of exercise program, and exercise is so damn boring!! much of the time so I really needed something good to listen to. I got totally hooked on your deep, thoughtful, complex, multifacted shows every week. I find myself laughing out loud or shedding tears fairly frequently as I walk along….having the podcast to look forward to has really helped me to get out there and walk.
Episode 65 was a lovely sweet tribute to your friend Jean and your friendship with her and with all of us. I heard the essay about memory for the first time just recently, and it was wonderful to hear it again, especially the end part, which is poetry, really. Today when I was listening, it made me think of one of my favorite lines from the Vermont poet, Alan Broughton, “….The wages of dying is love.”
Take care. Thanks for putting yourself out there for us, like your friend Jean must’ve put herself out there for you more than once. When we listen to your voice we can see you riding those wild waves of life with grace and abandon and compassion and that’s a gift to us all.
Brenda,
I’ve listened to your podcasts sporadically since the very start, but sadly less and further between now that I have a shorter commute. So it was only this weekend, on a long drive home to visit family in Oregon, that I caught up with your latest podcast.
I wanted to let you know that I was driving through Portland, over the I-5 bridge, as I listened to your story about Jean and to the sad news of her passing. So, for you, a few tears fell for her in her adopted home town, as well.
Thank you for sharing Jean’s gift with us. Not just the knitting but, as you noted in this episode, the commitment to a creative life.
Everyone has expressed so much and so well. I add my thoughts and best wishes to you and all who knew Jean in the hopes that you feel supported and loved during this time. I feel gratitude for your sharing your heart with us.
I was really touched by your remembrance of Jean. I hope that you will podcast again soon and tell us what happened to her.
I’m very, very behind in listening to all podcasts, not just yours, so have just heard this tonight. I’m very sorry to hear about your friend. Hugs. Big, big, strong hugs.
this episode brought tears to my eyes and i fell in love with “heavenly days” thanks for sharing. i hope you heal soon.
Brenda,
I too have been on vacation and just listened to your podcast. It is so very difficult to lose people we care about, especially those that hold a special place. Jean’s gift changed the course of your life forever. She will never be far from my thoughts when I listen to your podcasts. Her legacy to you is now ours as well. May God protect you and grant you peace.
Robyn Becker
Virginia, US
p.s. We miss you. Please come back soon and just let us know you are all right.
Warmest hugs
Robyn
We miss you! Hope you’ll be back soon.
Hello.
I’m very sorry for your loss. I just found your podcast and this was the first episode I listened to. It was a lovely tribute. I’m currently vacationing and was listening to your podcast while walking my dog on the beach this morning. I sat and said a silent prayer for her and for you.
Brenda,
I agree with the other comments- we miss you and this podcast was the perfect tribute to Jean. I also want to send you a virtual hug to help you through this difficult time. I wish I could do more for you. Thanks for all you do for us listeners.
Take care,
April
Brenda,
I recently found you podcast after my domestic partner Carl recommended it to me. I am currently listening from the very start however the tribute to Jean was the first episode that I heard. I was sitting at my desk at work and I cried. It reminded me so much of our friend Cheryl who we lost to Cancer about a year ago. She not only helped us with our knitting she helped us with life. Every time I knit I think about her. I taught myself from books, but Cheryl help me see what I was doing wrong and that it was ok to make a mistake. She also helped me see that I wasn’t a total screw up as a parent….kids don’t come with instructions. She was a great teacher and friend. There is not a day that goes by that she is not missed. She is still with us though, because every item that we knit, she has a part in, due to all the things she taught us. I would venture to say that Jean is still with you in your knitting as well.
Hugz
Nick
Dear Brenda,
I am one of Jean’s knitting friends from PDX. I was told about your podcast tribute by another friend (from the east coast – another amazing connection). Jean truly was just how people have described her: fun, energetic, quirky, pug loving and most of all, very into knitting. I learned so much from her, even though I’ve been knitting for 40 years. I still find it hard to think of her as being gone. Friends and I have been sorting through and passing around her knitting paraphenalia and I can’t help but picture her and hear her as I pick up a book of hers, or poke through another bag of yarn. She was a rare generous soul – giving in every sense. Our lives have been graced with knowing her, and as your title of the podcast suggests, other friends as well. If only we always lived without taking each other for granted! Thank you for your elegant tribute.
a new friend, Cherry
hi brenda–absent friends was the first podcast i ever heard from you and since then i’m daily listening to one (ususally more) of your older podcasts. when i first heard absent friends i didn’t really get the whole podcast–i was washing dishes, doing laundry, etc…so i missed that jean who taught you to knit had passed. i just re-listened to it again today and wanted to say that Jean truly has touched my life through you. I understand from your podcast you aren’t a christian and I do profess to be a christian. that has no meaning it is an observation and i wanted to tell you that i believe God does put those amazing people in our lives. i’m not sure what it means when they are taken away–i haven’t got that far, but i am greatful to be blessed by a woman that had the insight to TEACH you to knit and not just knit for you. so…thanks for sharing your deeepest feelings and stories with us. i feel like many others that we’ve now been friends for years. can’t wait for your next episode.
sarah
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