Death

This week has been a hard week for some of us in the beading community.  Jo Harrison who owned Horsefeathers in SC passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on Thursday.  It's hard to put into words how much Jo meant to me.  Jo was not only a friend but she was my mentor.  The lord put our paths together only for a few months but I will always cherish those few months!  I clicked with Jo and our relationship was easy. I was able to talk to her about things that I couldn't talk about with anyone else.  We were both in the same business so we talked a lot about that and we found ways to solve problems with our stores.  At the shop everyone always comes to me with their beading questions and problems and it was nice to finally have someone that I could go and ask and talk to.  My sense of loss is undescrible but I will always cherish the lessons I learned from Jo.  She taught me not only how to run my business better but she taught me how to work with wire and be confident at it.  The last project we worked on together was a beautiful wire ring where we made prongs and set a stone in it.  She taught me how to properly do the prongs and how to measure for them.  I had asked her to teach the class for me in November at the store and she was looking forward to it.  I am going to practice the ring some more and teach a class on it at a later date.  I will not teach it half as good as she could but I want the world to learn this last wonderful technique that my dear friend taught me.  I am coping with Jo's death the best way I know how....by beading.  I am working on a project idea that will be my memorial to her.  This project will probably take me weeks or months to finish and it will never be ask good as I want it to be but I hope this will help me to say goodbye.  I will be posting pictures on here as I progress so that you can see this wonderful piece that I will put up at the shop as a memorial to her so that I can tell the world about what a wonderful friend I had!