Shirley's Friend Dot

I have been trying to stay in contact with Shirley's friend and co-worker Dot. Dot found out she had breast cancer after Shirley went to the hospice house. We decided not to tell Shirley. She would have been so upset and so worried, no matter what she was going through herself.

I am glad to report that when I talked to Dot yesterday, she sounded wonderful. She said she is recovering nicely and heads back to work next week. She still has a lot of work ahead of her but she sounds like a fighter. I will never forget for the last couple of years one of the things Shirley said to me was how much Dot and I were alike. She would just say it over and over. And trust me, after getting to know Dot....that was a huge compliment. She is a wonderful lady just like the rest of Shirley's co-workers that I met. Wonderful people.

I just had my Chinese lunch with Kathy. It was delicious and fun. As usual. I get a lot of therapy going with Kathy. We talk about our Shirley and how much we miss her and love her. It's just good for us. And we talk about some of our decisions we are making and how Shirley would have felt or what she would have told us.

Hope everyone has a great week. It's great to hear from you again Tracy.

Love, Teresa

Comforting Words - I Feel You All the Time Shirley

"You will grieve my loss, but I have not gone. My body is beyond your reach, but my soul is touching yours. I am the one who enters your dreams. Caresses your face Hugs you. Misses you. I have not left, my spirit is with yours. I am all around you when you call. I am the gentle breeze when there is no wind. I am in the photo on the wall when you blink in disbelief. I am the song that enters your head for no reason, yet it reminds you. Don't grieve that I am gone. I am with you, beside you, in you. I will be forever."

Snow...

What in the heck is going on? It is March 27th and they are expecting a foot of snow. Are you kidding me? Well, guess who has to work all weekend now? Yeah, me. Shirley needs to have a talk with mother nature and get her straightened out. She knows I hate working on the weekends.

I hope you got a chance to listen to that song? Let me know what you thought about it?

My job (Hermes Landscaping) is donating a tree in Shirley's name to Shirley's family. We have decided to have it planted out in the cemetery that she is buried in. They are going to plant it right next to her. I had some people here help me find the perfect tree. We have decided on a Prairie Fire Crabapple. It is a beautiful tree. It will bloom deep pink flowers that almost look purple. So here when the weather will cooperate, we will get that scheduled. I will definitely be there when this tree is planted and anyone else who is interested is welcome to be there. I will post it on here when it will happen.

Please be careful this weekend in our spring blizzard and try to have an awesome weekend.

Love,

Teresa

Alan Jackson's Sad Song

Last night when I was out getting dinner, a song came on the radio from Alan Jackson. It's called Sissy's Song...Don't Worry About Me. And I have no doubt in my mind that song was written for me. After looking it up, I realize he wrote it for a lady who died who worked in his house. But I feel like he is singing to me. Please listen ...even if you don't like country music. It's a beautiful song.

Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1eLe52EH8k I hope that works.

Love,

Teresa

Tuesday Night:)

Well, I met the girls from high school at Jose Peppers last night around 7:00 and talked nonstop until 10.00. We had a really good time. Well I did anyway. I guess I shouldn't speak for these ladies. I'm sure they are worn out after I talk that much for that long. It's amazing how fast time goes when you are enjoying yourself. I get to bring Shirley into the conversation sometimes and I love doing that. It makes me happy that they know her and can appreciate the stories. The only thing I hate is that as soon as I left the restaurant last night, the first thing I wanted to do was call Shirley and tell her everything we talked about. She would have loved it.

Hopefully some of the girls that were unable to make it last night can join us the next time.

The picture here is of Nik and Aunt Shirley. She was so awesome with my kids. I mean they talk about her all of the time and it makes me so happy. They are really good about telling me happy memories they have of her and making me laugh. I love that. I'm sure it's good for them too. Those boys spent many nights at Aunt Shirley's house and I hope they remember that forever.

It's Wednesday...closer to the weekend. Have an awesome day!!!

Teresa

Shirley would be proud of me...Kathy is

So Steve is out of town. He left yesterday and comes back tomorrow. Talk about a reality check. For some reason I think that I just take care of everything in that house. Not true. He gets the kids up and off to school in the morning, he takes care of lunch money, he gets me out of bed every morning and makes sure I am at work on time. Hmmm...I guess I don't take care of everything. But, last night I went home, made the kiddos dinner, kept them from killing each other. Everyone (except me) was in bed by 10:30. I got them all up on time, off to school and they had lunch money. Wow...look at me. I'm a big girl. Well sort of. I did not actually turn the t.v. off until about 2:30 or 3:00. Shirley would have definitely yelled at me for that. But she would have been proud of me for taking care of everything. I called Kathy this morning and she was proud of me. Oh well, let's see if we can do it again tonight.

Actually, tonight I will be eating out with some girlfriends from school again. I don't know what it is about getting together with them, but I am very excited. Mexican food tonight. So I made sure that I am getting Chinese for lunch. Kathy is meeting me at 11:30.

Today is just a cloudy, gloomy day but it's a good day. A really good day.

Smile and be happy today:)

Teresa

Fun Weekend...But Sad Day:(

Today it has been 2 months. Shirley passed away January 23rd. So that sucks. I woke up around 4:00 and realized that is what today was. She was the first thing I thought of when I woke up. I started thinking about laying on that little sofa in her hospice room and just staring at her. Not knowing if I was hoping for her to keep breathing or just to stop. So instead of laying there and continuing to cry ... I got up. I had tossed and turned and cried enough.

Now, onto happier thoughts. Saturday evening we decided to go out and celebrate Cindy's birthday. It was fun!!! We laughed, ate, drank...and of course we did a toast to Shirley. She should have been there...but since she wasn't (well physically anyway), we definitely talked about her and wished she was. Enjoy the pictures!!!!

Love, Teresa