Uninhibited Mentors

June Shaw

Mom couldn’t see or hear well, but at her great-niece’s reception heard someone announce that all unmarried women should go up for the bride to toss her bouquet.

“Get me up there,” Mom told me.

I guided her to a spot behind all of the giggly bridesmaids and other friends of the newlyweds. The bride tossed – and the tall young woman in front of Mom caught it – and my ninety-year-old mother reached up and yanked the flowers out of that girl’s hands. The young women all disappeared, and the bride turned.

“Oh, Aunt Nora,” she said. “You caught my bouquet!”

A photographer appeared and snapped pictures for the wedding album of the bride and the woman who “caught” her bouquet, my mom.

Once the photos were done, Mom told me, “Let’s go find out who caught these. I should give them back.”

Oh, really? So why wait until now? I didn’t voice my thoughts, but we found the girl who’d actually caught the flowers and tried to return them.

Her boyfriend told Mom, “Oh no, we don’t want them. You keep them.”

I was relieved. And enchanted. Characters really do unusual actions. Terrific!

Relative Danger, my first in a series of humorous mysteries, was recently published.

“The main character is so much fun. She’s you!” many readers have told me.

Nope. She’s who I want to be – one woman with traits gleaned from some of my uninhibited mentors. My squeeze Bob is another one. He gets everybody in elevators and waiting rooms talking.

Once he came out of his urologist’s examining room and walked through his crowded waiting room and loudly said, “Ooh, he hurt me. He pulled the wrong tooth.”

Later he needed a procedure done at our hospital. His doctor wanted to pull a prank on some nurses there, so he asked Bob if he’d wear a furry pig costume to the hospital and all the way to the operating room. Bob said the nurses all went hog wild over him.

And then there’s my sister-in-law Lois who will say almost anything. Lois will not hold her tongue if she thinks someone has done something wrong that needs correcting. She seldom uses a quiet tone. If she’s in a room, people know it. And there are a few other uninhibited friends I am blessed to have. With all of my terrific mentors, why should I be the uninhibited one? I’m excited enough with being around them and experiencing their antics. And being inspired by each one of them.

You can see more of June and some of her uninhibited mentors at www.juneshaw.com.