I don't remember exactly when Ruelene came into my life, but I know it was in my early teen years. I became friends with a sweet girl named Anna and even though I don't remember the first time I went to her house, I remember feeling loved when I was there.
Anna's family was tall. Anna and her sister had their mother's dark eyes and thick dark brown hair. Whenever I was in their home, I could feel the love in the air like a warmth that radiates from a crackling fire in the fireplace. Sure, there was teasing: Anna had five brothers after all, but I never felt contention, even when I was there all weekend. Ruelene used to make the most amazing taco salad in the biggest bowl I had ever seen in my life!
There was a program at school that focused on helping kids whose parents had not gone to college. I joined this group and Ruelene happened to be the counselor over it. She had an office at the high school and I used to stop in to see her. Whether I was visiting her because I was sad or happy, she always had a warm hug for me. Her voice was soothing and gentle. She shed tears with me over my sorrows and she laughed when I was excited about something. I still remember the sound of her laugh twenty years later.
She was diagnosed with leukemia not long before I graduated from a two-year college. The last time I saw her, she still sat tall and smiled happily as she told me about the hope she had. She was going to have a bone marrow transplant and believed it would save her life. Sadly, she only lived another two years but she never gave up her trust in God. She was only 54. Her daughters both got married and became mothers without their own mother to join in their joy on this earth.
Yet we know she rejoiced in Heaven, and it only seems fitting that she would give one of those warm hugs to each grandchild before their spirits were sent to her children's homes.
I will never forget the impact Ruelene had on my young and troubled growing heart. She will always stand tall among the great women in my life.
We are eternal. I can't wait to embrace Ruelene once again. I will thank her for what she taught me and we will stand side by side and survey the ripple effect her kindness had on the world.
