Dear Aunt Shirley

Dear Aunt Shirley,

With everything that was going on in my home, I didn’t have much to look up to. My family had no values, no faith, no kind words to speak of. It seemed like everything around me was a free for all. Do what you need to do to survive, that was what I was taught. Survival for me meant trying to understand and at the same time trying to escape the world that I had been plunged into.

Every time I was able to talk to you about anything, you were the one who could show me the way to deal with it in a way that I could respect and feel good about listening to and following. Your words gave me hope. When I listened to your words, my outcomes in life were so much more appreciated from many around, but at home, nothing was ever appreciated so it was a struggle for me to find positive words in my life. I loved it when I could visit with you. I always knew I could hear your words of encouragement and belief in me.

I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciated your guidance at times when I was at a standstill and didn’t know which way to go. You were always the one to clear up any doubts that ran through my mind. You were a great guidance in my life.

It was your strength in life that I admired so much. You were never one to back down from any situation. You believed in yourself enough to fight for what you believed in. I believe that your strength came from God and you were a good worshipper and listener when it came to God. Your loyalty to your religion was something I could never feel from where I came from. My family was so anti-religious that I grew up knowing nothing about God. God was not a word that my family ever used.

I wish I had half of your strength. I needed something to believe in and I wasn’t very good at believing in myself. But when I was around you, you made me feel like I wasn’t just anyone else. You had a way of making me feel special. You would always find a talent that I held inside of me that you would help me to recognize.

I sang along to a song once when I was 10 years old, while my mom, brother and I were driving somewhere, and we were just getting close to home and I was singing this song. My brother who was six years old says to me, “You sing nice!” I smiled and kept singing. My mom turned around and said, “The only reason you are singing is because he said you sounded nice.” What kind of response is that to your child? My mom was a very jealous woman. She never wanted more for me.

Aunt Shirley, you were able to raise your children to be good people who passed on those same traits and values to their children. I had to escape my family to become the person I am today and with your help, I managed to find who I really was as a person. I have you to thank for that.

You were good with words. You always seemed to know just what to say and just how to say it. Your words were always an inspiration to me. My family's words were so harsh in that they were never positive. I always heard negative words from my parents. I was never encouraged to be somebody. To be somebody meant that I would be better than them. So, I was never encouraged in life.

Words make a person who they are. What a person feels and how they see the world and feel the world, that is who you are and how you see and become one with the world. Words are very powerful. They can make a person or break a person. It all depends on how strong a person you are. Words can be strong enough to make people react in a certain way. Words control the atmosphere in which you are in.

Everyone around you respected you and admired you because of the words you spoke, the kindness behind your words and the belief that you held in your own words. You always backed up your words with your emotions. I was one of them who admired you for who you were and the words that you spoke. I never had parents that I could look up to, who spoke kind words. There was no one there to sooth me when I needed someone to hold me and speak softly to me like you did. You were the only person make me feel like I was a real person.

You were a good teacher. I loved the way you could talk to children and help them to understand what you were trying to teach them. Maybe that is what inspired me to teach as well. When I watched you teach, it was like I could see a bright light that surrounded you. You glowed anytime you were teaching anyone at any time.

Yes, you were more of an impact on my life than you will ever know. I love you for the kind words, the encouragement that you showed me and I will never forget how you changed my life. Prayers to you in heaven because I know you are there still teaching your words. I will love you always for showing me the way. May God be with you always.

Love Tina