Tribute to a special lady

 I am ashamed to see that it is around two years since I posted anything on my blog.  However, I felt that this week was important to come back.  Many of you will already have heard the sad news that we have lost another friend in crafting - Debbie Rock.

Debbie was a talented crafter and a valued friend. I first met her in a caravan at Eastnor Deer Park, just outside Ledbury, Herefordshire.  We were all there to enjoy Land Rover trialling and the great social life around the barbecue in the evening.  Debbie was there because her parents were long-standing club members and her husband, Phil, was the Treasurer.  I remember Debbie's mum, Gwen, was so proud of her daughter's crafting talent, and would show anyone visiting her caravan some of Debbie's latest work.

It took a long time to get to know Debbie because she never pushed herself forward, but she was so well worth getting to know her.  She was one of those rare people that you could talk to while knowing that your conversation would remain totally private.  She was a listener rather than a talker.  After my husband died very suddenly, I started to go to crafting workshops, and Debbie often came with me.  During our travelling together, we would chat about anything and everything, not just crafting, but anything that concerned us.

It is no secret that Debbie's family was the centre of her life, and she was so proud of their successes in life.  She loved nothing more than to have her nephews and their young children around her.  

Apart from her family, Debbie's other love was crafting.  Debbie and I had totally differing crafting interests.  Mine was stamping and parchment craft.  Debbie, on the other hand would bite the hand off anyone who was getting rid of an old redundant computer, and then turn them into masterpieces, and I believe she would raid her husband's (Phil) stash of Land Rover bits and pieces.  I could not get to grips with what she did.  If I was presented with the same heap of things as Debbie, by the end of the day, I would still have a heap of  apparent junk, while Debbie had something special.  I did try but never produced anything I wanted to keep.  Debbie did try hard to get to grips with my favourite craft of parchment, but it was not for her.  We each settled to appreciate  what the other did.

Debbie would do anything she could for anyone, producing wedding stationary, glorious wedding and other celebratory cakes.  She could have made a successful business, but never believed she was good enough.  No matter what any of us told her, that she was really talented, she never believed us.  The loss of her mother and later her father further reduced Debbie's self confidence.  She always thought she should have done more.

She hated photos of herself, and never really understood that she was beautiful inside and out.  She had a smile that would light up a room.  A really lovely person.

RIP Debbie