In Loving Memory of Our Shantel

Never regret anything because at one point it was exactly what you wanted

On December 22, 1994 I gave birth to my third child, she was born with dark hair with strawberry blond tips and the most amazing blue eyes and she was so compact looked like she weighed 7 or 8 pounds, so you can imagine our surprise when she weighed in at a whopping 9 pounds 8 ounces. We took her home and watched grow into a strong beautiful and independent young woman who could hold her own against her equally strong and beautiful older sisters and in time her younger brother.

Unlike most families where the younger siblings ended living in the shadows of the older siblings each of my kids forged their own identity separate from the shadow of the other and Shanny was no different. She made her own name stand out and apart from her sisters who came before her, with her out spoken sense of right and wrong and her ability to lead by example.

I have so many wonderful memories of her growing up and some of them still have me laughing to this day, like the time her sister was getting ready for a dance at her friend’s house and she called to tell us she forgot her underwear in the washing machine. We were on the phone with her and trying to figure out how to dry the underwear so we could take them to her. First she tried the blow dryer but it was taking too long so we finally gave up when Kara said to just bring them. We got in the car and Shanny had the brilliant idea of sticking them out the window to air dry, so I had to drive down the road with underwear hanging out the window. When we got to Kara’s friends house, Shanny hops out of the car and made like she was pulling the underwear off of the cars antennae. When Kara and her friends came out of the house and asked what Shanny was doing she told them she had tied Kara’s underwear to the antennae to dry. Kara chased Shanny for nearly two blocks, before she came racing back to dive into the car locking the door before Kara got her. Kara was so mad she was demanding punishment and all we could do was laugh.

Before that there was the time, she leaped off the couch Ninja kicking Crystal in the kidney, dropping her to her knees, because big sister was being bossy with Kara about the vacuuming of the living room.

One of my most favorite memories was of all four of my children following me through Walmart and WinCo saying ‘Mama mama mama’ or ‘mommy’. Sometimes they had the help of their friends but most often it was just them or a combination of them and to this day I still have no clue who the ring leader of this particular activity was although I suspect it was Kara with the others eagerly ready to play.

Shanny always seemed to hedge on doing those things that prepared her for going out on her own, she

even waited until she was 17 to get her license then she did it more because she didn’t want to left behind, it was funny because the day she got her permit she refused to drive home from DMV but boy she had really wanted the permit. So, when she came to me her Senior year and said ‘Mom, I think I want to join the military’ I was stunned not just because she had said it but because she was very mature and eager to discuss it. I said of course said ‘ok then research it and tell your dad’. She chose the Navy and left for boot camp in July of 2013 a little over a month after graduating high school.

And boy, did she liked her back rubs and laying in front of the fire place, you would think she was a cat. She really loved running, laying outside to tan and coffee, lots and lots of coffee, we had to ban her from coffee after 2 pm because otherwise she had trouble sleeping. But my best most precious memories will always be of her smile, her ever ready supply of hugs and our Dutch Bros runs.

On July 8 2015 Jerod (my son) and I picked her up at from the air port at 8:50AM from there we proceeded to find the closet Dutch Bros. She and Jerod each ordered an annihilator while I ordered a caramelizer, she was so excited and was Snap chatting everything as we went, including the fact that we got lost in Portland with the help of GPS. We picked up my husband and went to Prime Time for lunch. I remember her commenting on how messy my car was on the way home from lunch, and making plans with her friends. At around 5:00PM her friend was bring her home from hanging out when they were t-boned by another car. She was about 3 minutes from home when she died.

Never regret anything because at one point it was exactly what you wanted
(This quote meant a lot to Shanny)