We will miss you Judy.

On June 9th, 2012, Judy Bustle lost her battle with cancer.   For those of you that didn't know her, Judy was an incredible show secretary- I often joked that her show reports would beat me home from the show.

She was more than that though- she was funny and sweet, with just the right amount of sassypants thrown in.

For the longest time, I went through a period where I kept forgetting to write "Open or Youth" on my show entries- and Judy couldn't remember how old I was! It became a running joke between us- either I'd put OPEN big and in bold, or she'd tell me not to worry, she thought she'd finally figured out I wasn't young enough for youth.  We'd share a grin at the check-in table as she sorted the OPEN pile to find my entry.

Once, I forgot to send in my entries to a huge show.  Of course, I figured it out the next day, thankfully and sent her an email asking her to let me enter late.  We joked and bantered a little back and forth and I ended up bribing her with a Doves chocolate bar.  I'll never forget her smile when I slid it across the table at check-in like we were in the middle of a drug deal.

Many of us didn't know she was sick.  She was such a vibrant lady, I prefer to remember her this way, rather than after cancer had taken it's toll.  Such a proud lady, I think she'd prefer we all remember her this way as well.

I emailed her once, just to thank her for being such an incredible show secretary and for all of her hard work on our behalf.  This is part of what she emailed back to me: "...It takes more than just me.  We have the BEST exhibitors and writers.  Without them, my job would be much more difficult for sure." 

I hope that she knows that we are going to miss her terribly. It's going to be sad to not see her again- this side of the world, anyway.  Without her, rabbit shows aren't going to be the same.

-Kristen