She was supposed to visit Four Corners with her husband. She came for both of them.

UTAH/COLORADO/ARIZONA/NEW MEXICO — Sherry Masulit-Alcala strolled around the Four Corners Monument, the only place in the country where four states meet. It had recently rained, and the walk was muddy, but that didn’t stop a steady rotation of tourists lining up to take photos. Some stood in the exact center and smiled at the camera; some tried to put a foot and a hand in each state, like a game of Twister.

It was Masulit-Alcala’s 59th birthday, and she had wanted to come here since she was in high school. She and her two best friends planned to take some photos, support some of the Native American artists selling jewelry and food at the site — the monument is maintained by the Navajo Nation — and then return to Las Vegas on their road trip.

Masulit-Alcala lives in Hawaii and had originally planned to come to the Four Corners last year with her husband, Raul “Rudy” Alcala — the tickets were all booked and everything — but they canceled because of the rainy season. Before they could make it here, Rudy passed away. The following day would have been his birthday.

“That’s why this is a meaningful trip for me, because it’s something that he and I wanted to do,” Masulit-Alcala said, beginning to cry. She was holding a photo of Rudy that was attached to a wooden stick — in the picture, he sits on the edge of a boat, fishing and smiling. “I was determined to do it this year. I’m doing it for both of us.” Her friends volunteered to come along to be there for her.

Masulit-Alcala, who was raised in Hawaii, said Rudy had arrived years ago, with $100 and a drive to “find himself.” He initially lived with friends, riding a bicycle to jobs on boats, and over time his friends became his ohana — his family. If Rudy “had his last penny and you needed it, he would give it to you,” Masulit-Alcala said. “He was all about not worrying about stuff but taking care of his family.” Eventually he met Masulit-Alcala, they married, and they bought a home big enough to combine their families.

It’s been a struggle for Masulit-Alcala since Rudy passed away, in ways big and small. She still has days where she has to pull over on her way to work and cry. He used to “spoil” her and do the cooking, she said, so she’s had to start doing that for herself. But Masulit-Alcala, who is Filipino, said that Rudy has also visited her in the form of a moth — the form people who’ve died take to visit loved ones, in her culture. She wears a red bracelet that reads, “Aloha, Until We Are Together Again.”

“I’ve been having to live life to the fullest and keep him in my memory and not stop living basically,” she said. “He would want me to continue what we started.”

Now that she’d made it to the place where four states meet, if not how she first imagined, Masulit-Alcala held up the photo of Rudy next to her face and took a selfie. Years from now, when she looks back at her photos, she’ll see that he made it there with her after all.

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