She’s Found in Reflection

Told by: Monica

When we meet new people and I eventually tell them the story they seem kind of awestruck. They say ,”Wow, I can’t believe it!” and then they tell me , ” you must be a strong person to have gone through that and come out looking as happy as you are.” ….. I say to them, ” I am not strong on the inside. but, from the outside I have to be.”

In a way Shelby was a rainbow before the storm or during it. She is what brought back the light in my darkest time. This is how she got her name.

We chose not to name our children after anyone we knew personally. For several reasons. The biggest reason being so that our children would have a unique name for their individuality. My maternal grandmother was born in France. Charlize Theron is an actress with a kind of French name. I decided to change the spelling a little bit. I also wanted it to sound softer. So, I decided to change it to Charleece. Her middle name is a spin off of Raelynne. My friends daughter’s middle name. I always wanted a little girl named Shelby after the character from Steel Magnolias played by my favorite actress none other than Julia Roberts! Shelby’s middle name was going to be Nichole. But, my husband didn’t like Nichole and so we didn’t have a middle name for her for a little while. When Charleece died we had not known exactly what one would have what name at first. So since Shelby didn’t have a middle name we chose Charleece to be her middle name. That way then Charleece would be our other twins name and she could be honored always. It turned out to be the best thing too! It was my husband’s idea to have Shelby’s middle name be Charleece. It was like it was meant to be that way. So, that we would always have her name mean something to all of us. I knew right away when he suggested that idea that that was the reason Shelby didn’t have a middle name until that point. It wouldn’t be as meaningful if she had another middle name.