The value in a relationship is the down deep feelings that are birthed and nurtured by numerous incidents that happen over a period of time when you are with a person. I feel it is also connected to what we learn as we live inter-related to the person.

There are people who we can say are examples and then there are those who pioneer inroads for those less courageous or faithful to the inner being. Such a person was my beautiful friend, Raven.

So much of her is left here with us. She made beauty with everything she touched. She could whip up a little piece of fabric and astound me with her creations. She could come out of the barn and in minutes go from a farmer to a model, always gorgeous. She was relentless in her personal quest to awareness. When everyone else was dragging themselves off to bed, I would see her light burning and she would do her daily self improvement studies, always seeking to better and over come her shadows. For everyone she was a relentless example of a vision to have happiness and peace.

Her sharings of all she had overcome and some of her intimate obstacles always came up against her unyielding determination to get past all barriers. She faced the nightmares of a childhood with the heart of a dragonslayer. Her fears were tackled with such forethought and planning, how often I would sit and laugh with her over the fear she had of mice and her little friend, Jessie, that was the white mouse she took as a pet to get passed it. The daily dance she would do to finally be able to touch him and pet him. To many that might not seem like much unless you have had to come face to face with a fear such as this was to her. It was a mountain she succeeded to climb.

I am so grateful of my way of life at this time. Because it gives me comfort to hold to as the days pass with her in this world.

In our way of belief, she has become the flowers and sunbeams and mist of early morning. She still prays with me each new day in the first rays of sunlight. She has not left us, she is just not bound to a single place as she was in body.

Her Spirit is free now. She has become a part of all creation. She will always be with me when I am in the Mesas of the Southwest, she will be with us on each excursion and walk about. She dances in the fires on our altars and in our hearts. She changed sorrow to hope for so many people and so many things. She always took everything so serious. She would share the pain of being a high achiever and always needing things done to perfection. We would go through many books and teachings on how to lighten it up. She shared with us once that she would be happy in a monastic life. We all laughed because it helped us understand her way of leadership. Her regimens and rules.

After someone we love passes, it is hard not to feel we could have done more or made a difference. But far more powerful to me is to hold to my belief that God is always present, and in God so is Raven.

The wind is how she dances now, the stars are her songs, the river her laughter, the flowers her fabrics, the rain her kisses. That will heal our emptiness for now, beloved Raven, but do not forget us.