Tess and Tess

Tess the sheep walked right over to Tess (the human and her namesake) when she walked into the pasture.   It was a sweet meeting, Tess the sheep sniffing and nuzzling Tess the human who scratched the sheep’s neck and back.

We met at the Round House, Tess visiting from Delaware where she’s starting her own acupuncture practice.  And even though we’ve only seen each other  in person  a few times, Tess and I go way back.

Tess bought my first quilt, all hospital green and red.  She emailed me that it was just right for her being she was a hospice nurse.  And she kept buying my quilts.  In the beginning, when business was slow Tess was there encouraging me with each purchase.  Helping me to believe that someone out there wanted what I had to offer and they were willing to pay for it.  Helping me to see the value in my work.  And she always seemed to be there at the important moments.  She doesn’t comment on my blog or email often, but when she does it’s at the time I need to hear what she has to offer most. She knew when I was getting divorced even though I never wrote about it, and knew when Jon and I were getting together before I even hinted at it.  She watched my business grow,  as my quilts that used to be readily available to her were now being sold before she could even inquire about them.  And she wrote meaningful and supportive emails when big things happened like when Rose and Izzy and Rocky died.  And when smaller nuanced things happened that only she picked up on. She continued buying my potholders and streaming pieces and has one of  the two  sets of placemats I made (I quickly gave up making them).  And now much of my work is hanging in her acupuncture office.  A practice she’ll work at full time when she retires from nursing in a few years.

Tess knows more about me than I do her, but we sat at the Round House and were soon joined by Jon and Lisa and Jim from Jon’s blog class.  It was like we were old friends, all getting together for lunch like we do every Saturday.  There was an ease and comfort that I haven’t often known.  Tess and I have often written to each other that if we lived closer together we’d be good friends.  I saw yesterday that distance doesn’t have much to do with it.  We are good friends.