T Stands For A Very Sad Day

 

Today I am looking backward, because this is an incredibly sad day.  My heart is filled with much sadness.  Once you hear the news, yours will be, too.

During T Tuesday two weeks ago, our dear friend Eileen wrote this:

Surgery This Week

My surgery will be this Wednesday. I want to thank you for all the kind, encouraging comments and emails you’ve sent me. I was amazed to learn how many of you have loved ones who had successful open heart surgery.  Since I will still be in the hospital next T-day, I’ll miss you all next week.

However, I’ll be sure to take photos of my delicious hospital meals to share with you at our T-parties as soon as I can. Do ice chips count as a ticket to T?

Unfortunately, Eileen will not be joining us for T this week, or any other week.  Her friend Deb Terry, whose blog doesn't seem to be available any longer, let me know she died Wednesday, March 3.  According to Deb, the trouble began after the operation.  Apparently her kidneys failed and they put her on dialysis.  According to Deb, her husband Chris kept getting conflicting information.  Deb believed she was too frail to survive the operation.

Eileen has been incredibly generous to me over the years, so I am going to share some of that generosity with you this week.  If you would like to share your own stories, please do so in the comments.  If you want to honor her on your blog post, please do so.

These are gifts she sent during the anniversary of T in 2020.

 

This was the ATC she created.  She loved to write poems, and this was just one of them.

These were the gifts and ATC Eileen sent to celebrate our annual anniversary in 2017.

 

These gifts came from Eileen during our annual anniversary in 2018.

Another wonderful ATC and a great poem to go with it. 

 

For our sixth year annual T Tuesday celebration, Eileen created a triptych.

 

This was 2019 and the piece reads:

Celebrate 6

years traversing the world

4 tea.

There were other gifts, too, as you can see.

Then there was the adorable Christmas ATC Eileen sent in 2019

and this thoughtful handmade card and incredible mug

that fits me

to a T.

 

I know Eileen has shared art and ATCs with many of you, too.  I just hope this small tribute to her will help us fill a small part of the void that will never be completely filled with her loss.  T Tuesday will not be the same without her.

 

Since today is International Women's Day, it makes sense that it also all about Eileen, who often posted to an international audience.  Therefore, I'm not going to repeat the "rules."  Suffice it to say, if you can't get an idea what to post after seeing everything Eileen has sent me over the years, then nothing I can say will help.  Please link your blog post below.  Make sure it goes directly to your T post and not your blog in general.