Always believe

I met Shaunulee in early 2000. She was pregnant with her first child. She and her sister went to school with my daughter. Her mother was my daughter's seventh grade Social Studies teacher.

Soon after she gave birth I learned that this young woman had been diagnosed with cancer and did not intend to let it kill her. I sent her a note saying I thought she was a very brave young lady. I also gave her aunt a photograph I had taken containing spirits from another place, believing it might help the family deal with what I feared was in store for them.

Shaunulee very wisely lived every day she was given to the best of her ability. She died two years later, three weeks before her 23rd birthday, leaving her child behind to be raised by her bereaved mother and caring step-father.

Defying her doctor's warning that she was too sick, she made a trip with her family to Arizona to see her newly married sister's house. She died exactly where she wanted to be, surrounded by those most important to her.

After having a dream, depicting her transition from this wold to the next, I was guided to sketch what I was shown. She wore a flowing gown and was flanked by a male figure on her left and a female figure on her right, each wearing a robe and holding one of her hands. The sketch showed her with
a beautiful head of hair, which had previously been sacrificed as the result of cancer treatments.

After high school graduation she had attended beauty school. Her hair loss was very traumatic for her and she was forced to wear a hair piece during her last few months on earth. I believe including long hair in the sketch was God's way of telling those she left behind that she was completely healed.

Shortly after her funeral I made a business call to an office in Arizona. The woman I was talking to put down the phone to obtain information from another office. While waiting for her to return, I heard a voice on the line saying, "She is worried about me, there is no need."

I gave the message to Shaunulee's mother who gave me a sincere hug of thanks. I told her I did not understand my involvement with her daughter's spirit and she quietly replied, "I know."

In memory of Shaunulee Brito, 1979-2002. Her grave marker quietly offers the message, "Always Believe".