I met Ranie 18 years ago but it feels like I knew her forever.
I met Ranie 16 years ago but it always felt like I'd known her forever.
I had finished teaching my first tai chi class of a new session. I noticed that two students, one at each side, had joined me on the path to my car. It was Ranie, and her best friend, Tex. I immediately felt surrounded and uplifted by such love and warmth. They continued to walk me to my car each day after class with hugs that began that day and never ended.
Ranie’s sweet and gentle hugs were gifts that I was graced with until even a month before she died when, although exhausted, pulled herself off the couch to grace me with a fragile but very loving heart to heart hug.
Tex and Ranie became known as my “two angels” always wanting to help me without a wink of hesitation. Both different but with the same huge hearts.
Ranie was such a gentle, soft and sensitive soul whose calm center and slower pace seemed to resonate with the meditative and flowing movements of tai chi. It seemed to bring her such joy and tranquility. She was the Hulu dancer from the trade winds of Hawaii and beamed with a beautiful aloha spirit She had a spiritual energy that loved nature and wanted to go gently into each day with stillness and quiet.
Ranie's love of tai chi never ended. Even a month before her spirit soared I was blessed to do some tai chi with her in her living room. I was in awe of her balance and memory of the form even within the challenges of Parkinson. I will always remember the smile on her face and our shared delight in doing it side by side as Tex watched on with a big smile.
Ranie (and of course Tex) were with me through four cancer journeys. Volunteering to take me to appointments after my big surgery, always my prayer warriors, and Ranie loving to surprise me by finding my favorite organic vegetable.
Ranie and Tex were my cheerleaders and warm welcomers at my art shows to the point when it soon seemed like many were coming just to be in the presence of their loving energy and get their hugs. Ranie was my sales accountant. My books didn’t know what hit it them with her precise and organized and neat details! Tex was a master at the art of the close and selling my books.
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Ranie was a such a beautiful soul with a friendly, kind, and compassionate heart and giving spirit. She cherished service to others - whether it was the orphans in Nicaragua, her friends, family, or strangers who soon became her friends.
My heart goes out to her family also to her best friend and my fellow angel, Tex, who was at her side with compassion, selfless love, and care til her last breath, often despite her own challenges.
This what I know FOR SURE. One of my angels, Tex, is still here. The other, I know, now has her official wings and is beyond the veil, but still very much with me. Love never dies.
