R.I.P. TO MY NIECE SHIRLEY. A CHILDHOOD REMEMBRANCE.

     Anxious to open my emails last night before bedtime, I noticed one I seldom get from my immediate family Siblings, sister Joyce.
     Not having seen some of my nieces and nephews as often as I could, and should have, our niece and oldest daughter to our late and much older brother John, has passed away from an all too familiar brain tumor disease. I say that because I have also lost a son from the same thing at the age of 49, in 2009.
     Although I hadn't seen her much in the past later years due to her living some 800 miles away in Lethbridge, Alberta Canada, my memory flashed back to our childhood in Fernie , B.C.
     Shirley was the oldest child of  John McNaughton and his wife Mary Kabilka's children, born circa 1945. Times were tough then, and due to our area of small town Fernie, logging and coal mining in the area of Crows-Nest pass were the mainstay of the whole Elk Valley that cradled those life-supporting occupations.
     It goes without saying that hard drinking and hard working went well together and pretty well a part of everyone's life.
     Needless to say, it had it's consequences, and after two more children, John and Wayne, the marriage went sour, and John and Mary parted company. Mary retained custody of the children and with Shirley, being around the age of five, Mary felt it was best if Shirley came to start her schooling with our family.
     Us older kids enjoyed the idea and we loved her as a little sister. Shirley was bright and naturally personable and never went short of hugs and snuggle-ness.
     As most children do, she went through the throes of trying to take the Line of least Resistance by fibbing once in a while. There was only one problem with that being raised in a large family; we had all tried it and no doubt, failed eventually.
     We loved her dearly.
     Jeannie, who was the youngest in the family and a few years older than Shirley, had a unique talent when it came to Shirley's little, once in a while fibs to our mother; Jeannie could somehow tell by looking at the back of Shirley's head that she was lying!
     So Jeannie would say, "Shirley's lying again, Mom! I can tell by looking at the back of her head!"
     Shirley was busted and would break out crying. She eventually quit attempting to tell fibs to her Grandma. (All the time though, we loved the heck out of Shirley!)
     Sadly for us, but a good thing , Shirley's mother Mary got re-married and upon proper notice, came to take Shirley back into her own family atmosphere and to a different town. It was with the promise she could come back to visit whenever she wanted.
     But Shirley had already settled in with the family and at the last minute decided to want to stay.
     it was truly a heart-rendering moment as Mary literally had to take her hand and pull her out the door, and into the car as Shirley screamed with all her might, "Grandma, don't let them take me!! Please,! Don't let them take me!"
     It was a sad day as some of us cried for Shirley, and we truly never forgot the memory of Shirley being with us. Of course Shirley quickly 'settled' in to her new family and grew up to be a good honest and respectable adult, living a full life and taking on the World the way the rest of us McNaughtons tried to do. The guidance of our mother on all of us, contributed to our life the way we chose to live it. Bless them all. If she doesn't mind, I'm tearing up a little bit now!
     God speed, Shirley! Your Mom and Dad and brother Wayne are waiting to greet you, I'm sure!
     Just sayin'.