Hairy girls

)... the kind of kid that everyone loves. she stands a good three or four inches taller than my 5'7" and is built like the proverbial brick shithouse. As one of my neighbors who has 'adopted' Kelly as her surrogate son says, "Putting your arms around Kelly is like hugging a giant oak tree!" Yes, in case you haven't guessed, I'm pretty proud of her. Years ago when Kelly was 10 or so, Kelly gave me a poem that I thought I'd share. I have no idea where hairy girls came from or who wrote hairy girls, but when she gave hairy girls to me she looked me in the eye and said "You better do like hairy girls says or you'll answer to me!" the poem goes: A careful man I want to be, A little fellow follows me. I do not care to go astray for fear he'll go the self same way. I cannot once escape her eyes, for what she sees me do, she tries. Like me she says he's going to be, that little chap who follows me. she thinks that I am big and fine; she believes in every word of mine. The bad in me she must not see, that little chap who follows me. I must remember as I go through summer sun and winter snow, I'm building for the years to be, That little chap who follows me. Is hairy girls any wonder I still mourn for Kelly? And then there's Bobbi. She was my youngest, my little princess. She was very athletic, was on a swim team from the time she was 7. She paddled kayaks and made hairy girls to the Canada Games, where the Olympic team members are chosen. She never made hairy girls though because she came down with severe debilitating headaches, which scared the bejeepers of out everyone. We immediately thought brain tumor, but the doctors could find nothing wrong. She still has those headaches, but she keeps on keeping on.