A Tribute To My Friend

i wrote out the title in capital letters and planned to write this post using capital letters where necessary. and then it occurred to me - SciFiChick would not have wanted me to change how i write my posts. she thought it was cute that jam and i never used capital letters to start sentences.

my friends, there is no easy to way to say that SciFiChick passed away this past Thursday. my dear friend Phelan got this information from Sci's daughter, who put up an update on facebook yesterday. i have no further information except for the fact that she passed from a heart attack. i stayed up most of the night trying to alert dear friends of hers, friends of hers and friends of mine who go back many, many years.

there was a core crew of us who got involved in the American Preppers Network and the Canadian Preppers Network way back when it was just a small dream. that's when i met Sci and that's when she and i had just started prepping and learning about prepping and practicing. that's when she and i did an internet canning course together and were terrified of it. she came out of it a canning Queen and went on to can everything under the sun (including accidentally canning a frog, i believe - bahahahah!)! no, that didn't happen. well, actually considering Sci, it could very well have happened. she was also the dehydrating Queen and taught many of us how to dehydrate eggs, tomatoe skins and frogs (ok - that last one i made up!)!

her blog is aptly titled "Bacon and Eggs". her philosophy was that she learned a long time ago working in a popular breakfast place that it was just bacon and eggs - how bad can you mess that up? it so applied to her approach in life and she brought joy, strength, peace, intelligence and much, much laughter to those who knew her.

she was inspired by, and enjoyed all of the best and simple things in life. when we first met and became canning buddies, we were both aspiring to get a piece of land and become homesteaders. a few years later, we got our land, and then she got hers. her land inspired her and she worked very hard on her beautiful gardens. she was always willing to provide advice to anyone who went to her with a question. she always considered herself a novice but she very quickly became an expert on so many things.

her blog is filled with excellent information - all of her tremendous successes and some spectacular failures. she was never shy about sharing the truth and she always did so, so eloquently. there are many different activities that always make me think of Sci but the one thing that happens every year that makes me tremble and pray to The Lord: "Lord, please don't let this be a SciFiChick Thanksgiving" - bahahhah! it's because her first Thanksgiving on her new land was a total bust and she wrote about it on her blog. as we celebrate both canadian and american Thanksgiving, and had missed the canadian one, our first Thanksgiving on our land was celebrated on the american date. and it was a total bust!!!! when i read Sci's post the very next day in which she shared her bust of a Thanksgiving in such a humorous way, well i just knew that i had to share ours, too.

Sci didn't care about mistakes, she just learned from them. and then shared that with anyone willing to learn.

she was an amazing person and she made everyone feel wonderful, no matter if you were down. her life has been spent helping people and spreading joy everywhere she could. she was funny as heck, dry in her humour and as sarcastic as they come.

i will end this with trying to imagine how many smiles she gave to people throughout her short-lived life. i can't even begin to fathom a number big enough.

i know that you will all be saddened by this news, i am too. i want to thank my dear friend Phelan who dropped everything when she heard the news and went speeding into town in order to call me in person in order to make sure that i heard the news from a friend. now that's a friend. Sci would have done the same for her friends.

today i am going down to the river and doing a special ritual in remembrance of Sci. she always told me how much she loved our land and river, so i am going to do this special ritual for her.

canning season is upon me and i have a heavy heart. but my good friends Phelan and Sweet Sandy told me she will be there with me and to do her proud. i promised my friends that i will do Sci proud.

tomorrow, please check back as i will have a post up called "SciFiChick's Greatest Hits". it will be awesome and i know that she will love it.

i send all of my love to all of you who truly feel the loss of our friend. i am just glad that i had her for as long as i did.

Heaven has a new angel. Goodbye SciGurl. i love you.