Danna Shirley
I guess the usual process of a child’s
progression to maturity is to be born into a family, attend school, graduate, and
leave home for college. For my daughter, however, it was just the opposite. She
didn’t leave home . . . home left her!
Kristen’s best friends were Kristy Reynolds
and Dana Lyons. Kristy was an only child and Dana the middle child of three. Kristen
was like the sister Kristy never had and like a daughter to her parents, Terry
and Anna Reynolds. There were lots of sleepovers and shared experiences as
these three were growing up. Even when Kristen married, she had co-maids of
honor, Kristy and Dana, because she couldn’t choose between them.
After graduation from Vancleave High
School in 1989, Kristen remained at home while she attended our local junior
college for two years. Just as she was planning her next move our family made
its next move . . . to Japan. My husband Ron had been offered a great opportunity
with his company and we decided a two-year term overseas would not interfere
with Kristen’s plans to move into the dorm at the University of Southern
Mississippi in Hattiesburg. When she was between semesters and on Christmas
break, she would join us in Japan. What none of us considered, however, were her
empty weekends? Hattiesburg was just ninety minutes away but she would have no
place to come home to between Friday afternoon and Sunday evening.
When Terry and Anna heard that she
would be staying in the dorm 24/7, they quickly came to our rescue. They had
already been treating her has a second daughter for some time so it was no jump
at all to invite her to their home for weekends. She had her own bedroom and
key and came and went as she pleased. Not only did they adopt her but the
entire Reynolds family became hers, aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, all
of them regarded her as family.
When Ron had a two-week stay in
Hawaii for sea trials during Christmas of 1993, my sons Russ and Aaron, and I tagged along
from Japan and Kristen and Kristy flew over from Mississippi and met us. It was
a special treat for both the girls and for the whole family as well. While Ron
worked, we played and when he was able, he joined us. We took the girls
parasailing, the boys rode ski-doos, and of course there was the inevitable
luau. It was a memorable trip for us all.
Ron and I were so grateful for the
Reynolds’ care of our daughter because our two years in Japan stretched into
five. We never worried that Kristen was alone or lonely for she was well loved.
Even today, she considers Terry and Anna as her second father and mother. They
sat in the front pew, bride’s side, at her wedding right along with Ron and me.
They receive cards, calls, e-mails, and pictures of the grandgirls, Emma and
Bella, just as I do. Home may have left our daughter but she found a new one in
Gautier, Mississippi.
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