We never know our true feelings until we lose something we truly value, or so it seems.  This isn’t always the case, some people strike us with such a sense of being that they make us sit back and realize how much they mean to the world.  Usually they are simple folk, they are not looking to be recognized for more than they think they are.  They are more than willing to share, and be loved for who they are.  It is that simplicity that makes them more.  Fran Lucero was such a person.  She shared generously of all that she was, and she loved with all of her heart.

When last I spoke with her, she was in a lot of pain from her cancer.  She knew she only had a short time to live anymore.  She hoped it wouldn’t linger, she was looking for relief.  She prayed that the end wouldn’t come during the time she called the season of life, (Christmas).  She didn’t want to mar the celebration, or memory of the same in the future.  She loved family and friends.  She loved the beauty of our world.  She embraced what was to come with sorrow for what she would miss, in as brave a manner as she could.

She said one of the things she would miss most at this time of her life, was reading about the Elves and Aliens.  It wasn’t all she would miss, but she did love them as if they were family, as well as their world.  I told her she would not lack for things to read where she was going, and as far as my future works went, she would be standing over my shoulder reading the raw manuscripts as they rolled out of the pen.  She told me to count on it and not to shirk my duty.  We laughed together.

I may not hear from her on this world again, but she will be with us.  We will feel her close.  She will be the warm ray of sunshine shining from a cloudy sky.  She will fill our hearts with love and our minds with meaning.  She will still be our guiding light.