There are so many wonderful memories I have of Muriel and her family to recount but I will share my favorite. When I first met Muriel, she was working behind the counter at Russel's market. I was buying raisin cookies and had commented that I would love to have a good recipe for them. She smiled and said she had the best recipe and offered to make some for me. I said I would love to have the recipe and she shook her head and said, "I can't...it is a family recipe and the family keeps it a secret". That day was the start of our friendship and over the next several years...she made those wonderful cookies for me more times than I can count. About three years into our frienship, on Christmas Eve, Muriel handed me a decorative bag. Inside was a picture frame. When I unwrapped it, I saw that it encased the "family raisin recipe". It was the biggest honor anyone could ever bestow me. Not the recipe...but the love that came with it...Muriel saw me as family. I can't remember a time that Muriel didn't love me...as if I was her family. I still have the recipe, funny thing is...I have never made a cookie from it. I guess I just treasured it so much that I view it as an untouchable piece of art...lol! I guess I will have to break out the oven mitts and give it a whirl for Muriel. Even now, I am saddened by the news of her passing...but I will not grieve or cry. Muriel's smile is embedded so deeply in my soul, it would dishoner her memory to feel anything but joy and love when thinking of her. I was one of many that Muriel loved and anyone who knew her...loved her...would know that sorrow and crying was not Muriel's way...you simply put your faith where it needs to be and move ahead, one step at a time. She loved purely and unselfishly and I know she is wrapping her arms around me from Heaven. I miss her...and I love her. Michelle