Book Title: Finding My Sunshine (A Memoir)

Author: Shannon Leith McGuire.

​Category: Adult Non-Fiction (18+), 198 pages

Genre: Memoir

Publisher: Sunshine Street Press

Synopsis

“What if that someone was you?” Shannon had been so quick to blame others for her anger. She knew she was drowning in darkness and pain; being born with a learning disability made her feel defeated by life. She tried drinking heavily in order to quiet the demons. After being kicked out of college, Shannon took a leap of faith and started working in a nursing home. That’s when her angels appeared and the miracle began. The insight and wisdom she gained from those elderly new friends led her on an inspiring journey of discovery and self-acceptance. Each of us has our own path. Some of us just need angels to help us find it. This is her story.

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Interview with Shannon

Who was your favorite teacher?

I have had a lot of favorite teachers.

Most of them I would say were my Special Education teachers. The ones I had in middle/high school.  Ms. Gillen, Ms. Jones, Mr. Stedman. But the one who really helped me was an older retired teacher who lived across the street from us when I was growing up. Her name was Mrs. Ortner. She is the one who suspected I had a learning disability and encouraged my parents to have me tested. She was right. She helped me every day after school, going over the day’s lessons.

I would cry often in class during school, it was a safe place for me to let out my frustrations and no one would judge me, because they knew I was trying. Even if my grades were still straight D’s.

What have you done that you never thought you would do?

I never thought in a million years I would be a nurse.  I just wanted to be a mom when I was younger. But God had other plans for me.  I never saw myself as smart enough to become one, because I hated everything that dealt with school/studying.  I always had to have tutors, have my tests read out loud, have my books on tape when the chapters assigned were long.  I always had a hard time keeping up with the rest of the class because I was a slow learner.  Then I had a dream, three nights in a row, that I was to become a nurse.

Who do you wish you could see again?

I wish I could see my residents again, the ones who have passed on.  I wish I could hug them. Thank them for all they have done for me.  I believe the funny thing about death is it is an “invite-only homecoming party to heaven.” I believe friends/family members from long past will be in Heaven welcoming them, I picture them dancing and laughing with God. I just must believe they arrived safely to their next adventure. I hope they are laughing and dancing.

What was your first job?

My very first job was a lifeguard at the community swimming pool during the summers; I liked doing it. I remember when we took the written exam, I did not have a reader (someone to read the test for me) because I did not want anyone to know I had a learning disability. I failed the written test but passed on the other parts. They had a group meeting and determined I was still safe to lifeguard. I did that every summer until college.  I even saved a little girl from drowning. It was just like what they taught us when we did possible scenarios.  I knew exactly what to do; and everyone came together.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to be a news journalist, just like Dan Rather.  I wanted to know everything about people and tell their stories. Also, because they get to have their hair and makeup done by professionals. I was never good at applying makeup or doing my hair.  But my reading was terribly slow; and because of that, I was told I would never be able to become a news journalist.

About the Author

Shannon was raised in a small town in Eastern Montana, where you leave your car keys in the ignition and your front door unlocked all the time. The kind of place where sunsets and sunrises can be seen for miles on the horizon. Where the spring crickets and frogs resting in the irrigation ditches helped transition the days into a calm resting night. Where the winters can get so cold, air can freeze.

It was only after she was academically suspended by the college she was attending, that she became a Certified Nurses Aide (CNA). She did her training in Billings, Montana and it was there she learned how to take care of others and bonded with the geriatric population.

​For over five years, Shannon worked in the same nursing home where she received her training. The work was hard, but it grounded her and helped her find balance in what had become a deeply unbalanced life. It was not until she was a CNA, at one of the hospitals that she had a dream three nights in a row that she was going to become a nurse.

She currently resides in Tampa, Florida, where you may hear her laughing with her husband of over 10 years, scuba diving in the ocean, taking walks with their rescued pit-bull dog- Darby, or dancing together to life’s music.

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