A Final Request Before Saying Goodbye | #RELIGIOUS | RomePi™

♡6♡ Fast Friends (BWWM)

Living Life - PRESENT DAY
(SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2016)

I wish I could explain it to them, but I know they will never listen to me.

Kylin's Thoughts

My brain shut down the auditory nerves to allow me time to focus on what had been decided. Ruthanne had chosen to handle things the way she did and that was her wish.

Ever since the first day I began working for her, I was seen as an outsider to anyone who came by to offer her warmth and encouragement.

Often, her church family would insist that I was a bad influence on her towards the end because she began to exhibit characteristics that weren't in line with the woman, they had all come to know and love.

The real problem had more to do with their selective memories about her that they insisted had to be the truth. To make themselves feel better about the 'good woman' who appeared to have changed so much, they decided to lay the blame at my feet rather than deal with the effects of her illness which caused a descent from the traditions established in their circle.

The Ruthanne they knew was a devout Christian. She was a devoted wife and she was also believed to have been selected from above to take up the part of a minister's helpmate. But her mortality brought to light the fact that she had missed out on so much. What they failed to understand were her decisions towards the end.

Ruthanne had no intention whatsoever of missing out on anything else. Those were her words one hundred percent.

She had accepted that her days were few. Therefore, she elected to be selfish for once in her life.

That was the reason I found her hanging out on a lounger in short shorts and a bikini top on the first day we met.

Sure, I know most of the congregation would believe it to their dying day that I had something to do with that too, but the truth of the matter was that Ruthanne had a desire to live. She was a young woman who felt cheated and she desperately wanted nothing more than to make up for some of the time she believed would soon come to an end.

It was October 2014 when she received her diagnosis. From that day on, Ruthanne's mind had gone to work. It was as if her body shifted into planning mode.

In her mind, someone had to work out how everything would move on when she was gone. Who would honestly help the church grow and stay on a course of grace? Who would sincerely support her husband's teachings, study with him, and pray for him? What person would fill the void when she was gone?

Ruthanne thought nothing of what was to become of herself. She wasn't concerned with the sickness associated with chemotherapy. Other things took priority over that because, in her mind, the knowledge that she hadn't fulfilled her duty as a wife plagued her.

She was afraid to leave her husband with no one.

No support.

Open to the wolves who were dressed in sheep's clothing.

That terrified her more than closing her eyes for the last time.

The self-sacrificing nature of a wife who was always amazed that she had been blessed to even find someone of Rhys Yates' caliber left her speechless. They spent fifteen glorious years together and he never once abused her faith in him or took her for granted.

Rhys was longsuffering.

He never pointed out her shortcomings.

He always encouraged her to do and be her best.