Transcript
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Hi friends, tiffany here, that's right, it's not Rebecca, it's Tiffany.
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I am Rebecca's friend and I had the honor of being her podcast coach to help her launch this wonderful podcast.
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Love Is Not Dead Just my Husband.
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And today you're hearing my voice because love is not dead just Rebecca.
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A few weeks ago, rebecca succumbed to cancer and this episode will be the final episode of the podcast and it is a tribute episode.
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You're going to be hearing the voices of a few of her podcast friends as we pay tribute to this beautiful human being that is Rebecca.
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My tribute to Rebecca.
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I'm going to try not to cry.
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Rebecca was one of those people that brought joy and light and irreverent humor to absolutely everything she did.
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She was also somebody that it was safe to be sad around and she was the person you would call when you were going through stuff or when you were happy she was that kind of person.
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I had the joy of meeting Rebecca a few years ago and she was looking to find somebody to help her launch her podcast.
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She wanted to learn how to do this thing and she wanted to start a podcast.
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And when Rebecca wants to do something, she's going to do it and she had narrowed it down to me and one other person and she was asking me a whole bunch of questions and I'm finally like, hey, you want to hop on a call?
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And she was shocked that we would get on a call.
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And, sure enough, we talked and talked and by the end of that call I had Rebecca's whole life story.
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It was probably an hour and a half long call and I fell in love with her immediately and wanted her to be my best friend and that was the start of a really beautiful friendship.
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Rebecca definitely has a gift.
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She has a gift for making friends.
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She has a gift for making people feel like they are wonderful and incredible.
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And she has a gift for podcasting.
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Those of you that listen know that the gift she has given the world is this platform where people don't feel so alone, whether they're widows, whether they're people battling cancer, whether they're people that have lost somebody they love.
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Rebecca was the person that I called when we had a horrible, unthinkable family tragedy and it was the kind of tragedy that had very, very, very complicated grief and I was in my anger phase of that very complicated grief and I was angry at everybody and feeling hurt and neglected and alone, and I called her.
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I called her at 1130 my time.
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I'm in California, she's on the East Coast, so it was very late her time.
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But she answered the phone and she talked to me until I stopped crying.
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She talked some sense into me.
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Frankly, she listened to me and in her wonderful, beautiful, understanding, no-nonsense way she made me feel loved and she made me realize that the people nearest and dearest to me also love me.
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They just didn't know what I needed and after that call I was able to tell people what I needed from them and I'm just so grateful.
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I'm so grateful for the time and the memories and the fun adventures we went on, and I wish we had more time.
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I had been making plans to go out and visit Rebecca and Rebecca is a busy, busy woman and she has lots of people that love her, that were keeping her very busy.
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And I kept saying, rebecca, I have plenty of airline miles, tell me when and I will hop on a plane and be out there.
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I want to come see you.
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And finally she left me a message and I'm pulling it up on my phone right now as we speak.
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Her message to me was a very, very long message and she sent it to me on August 22nd and I'm going to sum the message up by her saying well, it's time for you to use your airline miles and come out and see me Again.
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That was August 22nd.
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I got on the computer that moment.
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We texted back and forth to find a good day and we found a time that worked, and it was going to be three weeks into the future, because she still had people visiting and things going on before that.
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And so I said well, how does a long weekend, september 19 to 22, sound to you?
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So that was September 19, was a Wednesday, and she said that's perfect, and we had everything set up to visit.
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And then then I get a call on Sunday, September 15th, that Rebecca passed away unexpectedly.
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We had all thought she would last longer and I was so looking forward to spending that time with her.
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We were going to set up her podcast studio bedside so that she could podcast from bed and make things a little bit easier for her to keep her podcast going.
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I was supposed to fly out on Wednesday and I didn't get to.
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I didn't get to fly out and see her.
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So I ended up flying out a couple weeks later for her celebration of life, which was very beautiful and in beautiful Rebecca fashion.
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It was a little bit more of a party than it was a funeral, and we did celebrate her.
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She even gave gift bags out.
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She had a scratch off on the funeral or on the Celebration of Life program and it either you scratched off and you either got a flower or you got the word win, and if you got the word win, you got a gift bag, and one of the things in the gift bag was a candle that said I'm not crying, you're crying.
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She had such a sense of humor, even to the end, and it was absolutely beautiful, and so I'm going to close out my part of the tribute by saying I love you forever, beautiful Rebecca and Rebecca's friends she liked to call her listeners her friends.
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Please enjoy the rest of this episode as you hear the way she touched so many lives.
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And the amazing thing about Rebecca is she made everyone feel like her best friend, whether she met you five minutes ago or has known you for five years.
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And I think that power also translated in her podcasting and I was so happy to have had her on my podcast, get to interview her and share parts of her story.
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And despite everything she went through all of her losses from her husband to her brother, to her cancer battle, to her cancer battle she was always positive, always had a smile on her face and had this amazing sense of humor.
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One thing that came to me as I was messaging someone about her is that I think there's this power that she had in uniting people.
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I've been in different groups with her and she always made everyone feel special and included and a part of whatever it was we were doing.
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And so now all of us are connecting together in our grief, trying to understand why this happened and how to pay tribute to her.
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And so, even though physically, I know now she is gone, she has left something behind that is incredible, powerful, moving and also makes it that much more difficult to say goodbye to her.
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I just think of her and how much she would give to still be here, to still be with her family and her friends and still be podcasting, and so I think that's what she's left me with is an inspiration to keep going, to keep moving forward, because it's exactly what she would be doing.
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So, thank you, rebecca.
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Exactly what she would be doing, so thank you.
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Rebecca, we're going to do everything to keep your story alive and share it with others, and you will continue to inspire other people, especially women, to live the life they want, and that's what she's taught us.
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Community is everything, and Rebecca has such an incredible community of friends and family that now we are all coming together to support each other because of her.
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And that's a powerful thing, that she's left behind, as well as this incredible podcast, and I'm so very happy to get to be a small part of it.
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When I first met Rebecca, she was years removed from her initial cancer battle.
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She was embarking on new adventures in her life, in her career.
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She was sharing her story on her podcast Love's Not Dead Just my Husband and she radiated a joy of life that was really contagious.
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I could never feel down or sad in her presence because she was always so upbeat and positive and it was really her authentic self.
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Now, when she got the absolutely terrible news that the cancer was coming back, had come back and that it was terminal, she shared it with the world just as authentically, and I'm sure that at some time she felt that she was showing weakness.
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But for me during that time, what I saw was the strongest woman that I have ever met.
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Sometimes I would see her smiling and laughing and would just be amazed.
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I had an idea of what it looked like to be living with terminal cancer, to know that your days on earth were coming to a fast end.
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But Rebecca showed me something different, something beautiful, something to aspire to, no matter how many days I have left.
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I knew she was loved.
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To know her is to love her, and I'm so happy that I was able to know her, to enjoy time with her, to laugh with her, to advise her, to cry a little with her.
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Our friendship was short, but her impact on me will last the rest of my life.
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Thank you, rebecca, for allowing me to be counted among your friends.
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Rest in peace.
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I love you and I'll miss you, josie.
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Hi, this is Hilary Russo with the Holistically Speaking Podcast, and when I think of my friend, sweet Rebecca, the one thing that comes to mind is sunshine.
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Spending any amount of time with Rebecca was a gift If you had the honor of sharing space with her, be it in person or at the mic, which I'm happy to say I've done both.
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You know, it doesn't take long to feel a connection.
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That was easy to find behind that kind Southern accent that could only belong to Rebecca.
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It was like a warm hug.
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I often say that every guest I have on my show is like a master class.
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I learn something from each person I get to spend time with, and the one takeaway I learned from my friend Rebecca is that time is promised to keep moving forward, but it is not promised to us, and even in grief there is always room for gratitude and forgiveness.
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So thank you, my sweet friend, for being a voice that will forever carry a message of hope, gratitude and love.
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So I must confess it really took a lot of strength to record this.
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She has this presence right Like she shines.
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If you go on her Facebook and you look at her page, she shines.
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You didn't expect somebody going through all the things she was going through could shine that much, which made me want to know her more and that's how we finally met January at PortFest.
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I was looking for her by the Amakosa until the night of Sonic Awards, but it was around that time when I had this group of incredible women shouting and running, creating videos on the hallways of Podfest how fucking amazing the shit is to just see women just loving and celebrating each other.
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And that's when I walked up to them and I was like what's going on here?
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Because I'm nosy, of course I am.
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And when it comes to Pod them and I was like what's going on here?
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Because I'm nosy, of course I am.
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And when it comes to portraits, I'm extra nosy.
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And I saw Rebecca and she hugged me.
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It was one of the softest, tightest we talked.
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And I was like you need to come to Shit Happens.
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And she did.
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She came on Shit Happens and she did.
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She came on Shit Happens, which was a new segment I started this year in February and the talk she would be in and it was supposed to be 45 to an hour and me and her recorded live.
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It's a live segment for two hours.
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We were almost going to make it to three hours but we finally stopped.
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And talking to her just reminds you of what is important, because hearing what she's going through and the attitude she had's going through and the attitude she had about it and the way she went about everything in her life that has happened, it's just incredible.
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The two-hour episode bonded us even more because we were already bonded.
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If anything, that hug bonded us because it was one.
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When I close my eyes, if anything, that hug bonded us because he was one.
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And I tell you, when I close my eyes, I feel that hug, but that episode bonded us.
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When you lose a genuine person, rebecca is the definition of beautiful, bold, resilient fighter, just a person who loved life despite what life threw at her.
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So I'm going to continue living boldly, taking chances and not allow life to kick me, despite everything that keeps coming to me, because Rebecca did it and she would want us to do it, so I'm going to miss you so much.
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Rebecca was someone incredibly special in my life my cousin, my first best friend and a shining light in all our lives.
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Growing up, we spent countless hours together, especially at our grandparents' house, where we shared secrets, dreams and, of course, our love for roller skating.
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Those memories are treasures I hold close, each laugh and every fall a reminder of the bond we shared, a bond that felt more like a sisterhood than a cousinhood.
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Her journey was not just marked by her personal battles, but also by her unwavering spirit.
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After losing her husband, she transformed her pain into purpose, launching a podcast dedicated to finding love and embracing life.
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Through her podcast, she created a community that loved and supported her, a place where she could share her heart and her journey.
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I remember meeting her podcast friends at PodFest, witnessing the way they rallied around her, how she lit up the room with her laughter and warmth To her listeners.
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She often shared a powerful message to live life to the fullest, to embrace every moment and never shy away from love, even after loss.
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She taught us all that, while life can be incredibly challenging, it's also beautifully rich and worth living.
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As we remember her today, let's honor her legacy by continuing to embrace life, to seek joy in the little things and to support one another, as she passionately did.
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Let's keep her spirit alive in our hearts, sharing love and laughter in her memory.
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Thank you for being part of her journey and for keeping her light shining, and remember that love is not dead.
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Just my cousin.
