Part 4...Shannon

There really isn't a way to adequately express what Shannon means to me. We live 1,000 miles apart, and yet, when we are together, it is as if no time has passed. Shannon has been with me for everything in my life. She knows nearly everything about me. Apart from my mother, there is no woman in my life that I trust more. MK and T. Willy call her "Aunt Shannon," even though they have an actual aunt named Shannon. I didn't date anyone who didn't quickly learn that Shannon would accompany us. That usually worked well, because guys seemed to come in pairs. However, Shannon is a bit younger than I am, so she didn't date these guys...she was more of a chaperone. There really isn't a story of my teen years that doesn't involve her in some way. I could go on and on and on; however, that would take too long. So, my dad helped me with some pictures tonight. These are pictures taken of pictures of our history together. There are many, many more, but a lot of them are at my house.

Several times we have been mistaken for sisters, and I don't have a sister, but don't think I could feel closer to an actual one. One of my favorite stories is this: my mom has people over for the 4th of July every year. There is a couple that attends that came to our church and worked at the school after I had moved away. So I knew who they were, but didn't know them well. One year we attended the 4th of July party. Toward the end of the afternoon, the husband asked, "Do you know Shannon?" He had no idea that we were even friends, but couldn't get over how much I reminded him of her. (She is a principal at the Christian school that we attended, so he had worked with her.) I have always loved that story, and took that as a great compliment.


This is a picture of us with our brothers. Her brother was in my grade, and he is a part of the history too. This was not the way we really dressed...we aren't that old. This was taken on "Old Fashioned Sunday" at the church you saw earlier. I would guess that I'm 8 or 9, and she is 6 or 7.











Just the two of us on the same day.










This is us playing at my house. The sweaters are draped around our shoulders, because we are pretending to be "teenagers," and looking at a yearbook. I suppose that is what we thought teenagers did. I spent the day with her today and told her about this; she laughed and laughed.











She was the maid of honor in my wedding, 1989. She was getting ready to be a senior in high school. And you thought my bangs were big...











And I was the matron of honor in her wedding, 1997. MK (2 years old) was a flower girl.












There is no way that I could talk about Delaware and what it means to me without mentioning "my Shannon."