Shirley

On April 3, I wrote that my friend Shirley was in the hospital with cancer in her upper spine. She spent almost four week in the hospital and had fourteen radiation treatments. Then she spent nine days in a nursing home. She died there on Saturday, and there will be a memorial service for her this Saturday.

She was a feisty lady! A wonderful weaver who also knitted and crocheted. For years she and her son had a business near Cadiz KY weaving rugs. The business burned one night about three years ago, and Buddy died in the fire. He lived in an apartment above the business, and Shirley lived in a trailer on the same property. Buddy was out of the building, but went back in for his animals, and didn't make it back out.

Fifty years ago, when Shirley was in her late twenties, with four young children, she had cancer for which she was treated with cobalt. She said that was 'the sickest you'd never want to be.' Years later she met someone who had worked in the lab making the cobalt treatments. That person said she had often wondered if anyone survived the treatments, and Shirley told her that at least one person had.

Recently, her brother voiced the 'you've had a good, long life' sentiment that we tend to say to or about someone who's past seventy or so and who's ill, and Shirley replied, "Yes, but I want more."