Remembering

A little while ago I asked for people to pray for a coworker of mine.  Her name was Raechel and late last week she passed away.  She came in to work on her classroom in August and I was away on vacation so I hadn't seen her since school let out last June.   When the teachers left at the end of June no one expected anything like this would happen. 

Her sudden illness and ultimate death has really shaken people up.  I, myself have had many moments of sadness and unease, and sleepless nights not being able to stop thinking about her and how lucky I was that my cancer was caught very early.  She was not that much older than me and she had three sons and a devoted husband.  And she was a character.  I say that not to poke fun, but we all have our foibles and idiosyncracies and some of hers were unforgetable. 

She was beautiful and dressed to the nines.  In fact, she was one of those people who you'd swear never wore the same thing twice.  And she flaunted it - that was her..... telling people that the pearls she was wearing were worth $10,000 or flashing a wrist full of jingling gold bracelets.  We had become accustomed to that - that was Raechel. 

She would come into the office and would have to practically press her nose against the sign-in sheet because she refused to wear her glasses anywhere except in her classroom.  That was Raechel.

She drove the best cars, had the best home, and she let you know it.  That too was Raechel.

But.............she was a wonderful teacher and a very thoughtful person. 

When we first met I found out that she was an artist when I questioned her about how she spelled her name as my daughter is also a Rachel but spelled differently.  She told me that she stuck the extra e in so that she could sign her name Rae.  I never saw anything that she had painted, but I don't doubt that she was talented. 

She always brought us, the office staff, a special little gift for Christmas and at the end of the school year.  Over the last couple of years the Christmas gift was a beautiful box of scented soap (did I mention that she left a trail of fragrance wherever she went?), and although I haven't used the soap because of my fragrance sensitivity, I have saved these boxes...............

and I'll always have them to remember a very special person.  Rest in peace Raechel.