It is a blessed thing to wake laughing, to greet the dawn with a smile instead of a sigh.

It is twice blessed to be able to laugh at a wake.

The ladies, that being Shirlee's daughters Lydia and Deirdre, sisters-in-law Nancy and Sarah, sister Corky, and assorted other friends and relations, decided the appropriate way to bid Shirlee farewell would be to raid her supply of vintage dresses and hats. They spent the morning before the memorial service deciding which purple dress and flaming red hat each would wear. Now this assemblage of ladies encompassed a thirty year plus age span and a variety of shapes and sizes. Yet they each managed to find precisely the right style and size of dress and hat to suit the wearer. It really was amazing to see.

The world is a zanier place for Shirlee having lived in it and a sadder one for her having left it.