Farewell to a Friend

It has been a week since ev Brown passed away suddenly. It was a shock for all of us who knew her online. I ‘met’ ev over on the Eric Johnson list during the fall of 2004. I had been to my first Eric Johnson concert, from the acoustic tour, and I wanted to share what an incredible experience it was. As always, she welcomed me to the list and I got quickly drawn in. I have to say; it was her presence, her wit and intelligence that kept me coming back. (OK there were a few others there as well!) It was fun to find such an amazing group of people who shared a love for Eric’s music and otherwise were willing to converse on a wide variety of subjects. She and I had quite a bit in common although it might not seem obvious. We became very good friends. I was a little embarrassed at first that I had an internet ‘buddy’ but after a while it seemed as natural as can be. She was so caring and supportive. Of course, I will miss her emails and her companionship but I also will miss all of the future writing that I know she had inside of her. She was so creative. She had her own very unique style of expressing herself. It was a delight to sit back and be the observer as well as to interact with her. She had lots of good advice and her perspective on life was intriguing. As I was going about my life this past week, I kept finding letters and articles from her that I had printed out and tucked away. She posted so many interesting and valuable articles that I liked to print them out and carry them around with me to lift my spirits. She was a Pagan and she helped me to see that way of looking at life for the very rich tradition that it is. She always told me that I had the soul of a Pagan and I think she was right. As sad as I am at her passing, I have to say that I am very glad that I had the opportunity to get to know her. She left behind a rich cache of writing and posts from her blogs and groups. I know that my life is better for having known her and I will carry a little piece of her with me for the rest of my life. Another internet friend once advised me to go about my life planting the seeds of good things to happen. All of us who knew ev will no doubt go about our lives planting seeds imbued with the spirit of ev, her wit, intelligence, supportive nature, common sense and the list goes on. In that way, her spirit will carry on in our hearts and be passed on to those who never had the good fortune to meet her. To add to a comment that Val made on her Happyland blog: ev you definitely wove a golden thread in my life.

Her writing is available at: (thanks to RobertG for putting this list together!) I heartily recommend that you put these links on your list of places to visit regularly!

Blogs

Scrumptious Monkey

Ask Aunt Aggie

Happyland

MSN Groups

Spirits of Fire

Wit Sarcasm and Artistic Musings:
Philosophy of Life and Other B.S. hosted by Jeen Lilly

Creative Writing Writings of Jeen Lilly

One of her poems that I keep coming back to:

Welling

There is such sweet

sadness in Spring

just under the joy

of new beginnings.

The years dance past us,

whirling into hellos

so that the goodbyes

seem embarrassing.

Memory is a vapor trail

testing our eyes:

we look up

like looking back; as if

we looked at the world

only once, in childhood

and everything we know

is based on this...

Without goodbye

You never left.
~
VG.

(link to a whole series of ev's poems)

This photo is one of mine that ev 'snagged' for her own blog. I was so pleased when she did that. I see this view down the steps almost everyday and I always think of her when I do.