"I Will Never Forget" written by Shayla

HELLO!(meeting at the hospital) Christi kisses Shayla on her "birth"day! (Feb. 12, 1999)
GOODBYE! (saying goodbye at the hospital) This is the final photo on the last day the girls were ever together here on earth. (September 10, 2006)

One night Shayla asked me if I was going to write a book about our time with Christi. I told her that I had a dissertation to write first and that I felt like I had already written "our story" through my years of journaling and blogging. The next morning Shayla said, "If you're not going to write a story, I am. Can I get some paper, please?" Here is what Shayla wrote:


"I Will Never Forget"
by Shayla Thomas, Christi's Sister

Dedicated to my cat Buttercup who lost her owner, Christi



Hi! I am Shayla Thomas, age 8. My sis died when I was 7 1/2 in 2006. My sis had a cat and a kitten, but now they are mine. When she died, I felt bad and sad. I will never forget her. I know she is in Heaven and having fun.

She was my best friend. We played a lot. We played horses, Pokemon and Cat Monopoly. In the spring, we picked flowers. In the summer, we ran and road bikes and drank lemonade. In the fall, we jumped in leaf piles. In the winter, we made snowmen.

Christi did Alex's Lemonade Stands. They raised money for cancer research for kids. Christi and I took horse bake riding lessons. It was fun. She was best friends with Kaylyn and Theresa. She liked to make friendship bracelets.


Christi holds her little sister, Shayla (1999) CT 2 1/2
Forever Sisters (Summer 2000) Ready to go to the pool!

Enjoying a snack while waiting to see "Winnie the Pooh" at the Ritz Theatre (Winter 2000) Shayla 1, CT 2 3/4
November 2001 (CT 4, Shayla 2)
Helping Daddy plant the garden (CT 4, Shay Shay 2)
With Ariel, Disneyland California (July 2001)
Being silly in the kitchen and modeling their matching shirts - CT, 8 Shayla 6 1/2