happy birthday to my great aunt Shirley

This is a picture of my great aunt Shirley with her son. Today is Shirley's birthday. But she died today. We are all very sad and we sure did not expect this. not now. She was the best aunt who ever lived - and I am not just saying that.

I never did get to meet Shirley but we always talked about planning a visit. She and I would have loved each other. She was a lawyer (a real-life Atticus Finch in her role as a public defender) and people expect me to be one though I probably lean more toward engineering (mechanical, not train) if my career as a ballerina doesn't work out. Since Shirley was the smartest person in the world, she would have been impressed with my advanced intelligence. And I would have been impressed by how funny, nice, generous, and just generally perfect Shirley was.

This photo was taken the last time my parents saw Shirley. That's not true; they saw Shirley at this birthday party (where even the fruit salad had meat in it) and then spent time with her several days later at the casino.