When you baby is snatched away from you at 15, you start to question the whole destiny and fate thing. While it hardly ever does any good to ask “Why?” we like to put things in order. We want to think there is some rhyme and reason to life. So, yeah, I’m asking “Why?”
I used to always tease Shayna about not being fully ready to incarnate. The girls and I believe in pre-existence before birth. They said at an early age, before we ever discussed such things with them that they looked down from heaven and chose our family. Shayna, despite being so good with her eye-hand coordination and being a gifted athlete never quite seemed comfortable with having a physical body to take care of. It was like pulling teeth to get her to work out. She was a beast on the court and in practice. She complained almost every night about having to get up and actually walk upstairs to get ready for bed. Her posture was horrible. She was always slouching. And, I used to tell her I had three years to teach her about nutrition. She just ate what she liked.
I think most kids can’t wait to grow up. Not Shayna. When she was pre-pubescent and saw Kayla’s body changing, she cried. She said she didn’t want to grow up. Didn’t want to become a woman. She didn’t want to get breasts. Shayna was so happy being a kid. She just got My Little Pony Drinking glasses I believe for her last birthday- a gift from her cousin. She still watched My Little Pony, Looney Tunes and Adventure Time. She got footie pajamas for Christmas just two Christmases ago.
Shayna lived an extremely full 15 years. She sucked the marrow out of life. She lived every moment to the fullest and she didn’t believe in saving anything for tomorrow. The turnout at her Life Celebration numbering somewhere between 500-700 people I’m estimating, was a testament to how much a girl who just lives full out can touch so many people in such a short amount of time. I take some solace in the fact that she was able to accomplish in 15 years what many don’t in a lifetime.
