thoughts of rockin' out on the road

shared by Marlo R. Beall, her sister

The other day, Cyn Cyn asked me whether I ever "rock out" to the car radio when I'm driving by myself. And I told her, "Ya, of course I do!" I've always thought that one of the most enjoyable times to sing loudly is while you're in the car.

Cindy and I would often sing while we were in the car together. I have an image in my head of the two of us in the car, on our way to UCLA. We've just exited the 405 freeway, onto the Sunset Blvd. off ramp, and we're just singing... loud and proud.

Cyn Cyn and Ava have triumphantly upheld the "sisters singing in the car" tradition. Over the past few months, their songs of choice have been from the Wicked soundtrack. The girls sing an inspiring rendition of the duet, For Good, that would undoubtedly make their Tita Cyn proud.

thoughts of warm hugs

shared by Steve Young, her friend from high school

When I think of Cyn these days, my thoughts are no longer filled with past memories, but ones that we missed out on... like going to each other's weddings or possibly meeting for playdates for our kids.

I can imagine us catching up over a cup of coffee and laughing about the silliness of our youthful drama, and then moving on to exchange stories about our kids.

Now that we are in our mid-thirties, I feel like there's a sense of calm and self-acceptance that didn't exist in our twenties. And I wish I could share these more important moments with her. 

I often think back to all the things that I would change from the past - a few interactions that I should have handled better, but I know if Cyn were here today that there would be no need for apologies. All we would need is a good ol' "cynature" hug and we'd both know that everything is alright.

Side note: a friend of mine that I recently had lunch with gave me a big, long hug, and it reminded me of the way Cyn would hug everyone.

thoughts of collective space

shared by Marlo R. Beall, her sister

Last weekend, our family started our summer vacation by taking a short trip to the Los Angeles and Orange County area. While there, we visited UCLA, which we haven't done in about a decade.

We took the girls on a quick tour of some of the main parts of campus, and hoped to visit the conference room within the Community Programs Office (CPO) that was named in Cindy's honor.

Andrew and I were not sure whether we would be able to see it, since it was the weekend, and campus was relatively empty. However, when we walked up the short set of stairs towards CPO, we found the door wide open; although we didn't find anyone inside.

There was definitely some divine intervention that led to the CPO being open. We walked into the office and found Cindy's room was open too; it's named the "Cynthia E. Rabuy Collective Space". 

We were excited to have been able to show the girls their Tita Cyn's room. We are also eternally grateful for everyone at CPO, past and present, for continuing to honor Cindy's memory.