The Reality of Life

The reality of life - that it will come to an end - came crashing our way this past week when our daughter lost one of her elementary-school friends in an auto-pedestrian accident. 

Here's their SEARCH class in 2001; Dylan in grey, Kaitlyn in orange.

As she was processing and reflecting, 

she wrote this on her FB wall:

  

Life is too short sometimes. Rest in peace, Dylan. You were one of my longest childhood friends and even though we weren't close in high school, you always still were so nice and friendly, to everyone. You could make even the grumpiest teacher smile. We'll be praying for and supporting your family through this. 

Sometimes life IS too short; Dylan would have turned twenty on Sunday. It was painful to sit next to my daughter at his funeral yesterday and feel the unspeakable grief in her heart that I saw through the unbearable sorrow in her eyes. Words cannot adequately explain how hard it is to let go and 
say goodbye, 
especially to someone so young, whose adult life was just starting. 
And when those bagpipes started to play. . . 

What resonated through the pain, and flickered at the end of a long, dark tunnel is the gift that Dylan left behind, what brought all of us together to that jam-packed cathedral Saturday and connected us to that young man: kindness. Dylan was fun-loving, friendly and kind. He put so much life into his short nineteen and a half years with us and he did it always with that signature grin on his face. Right now I'm too sad to say much more, except to ask for prayers for his family; his dad Todd, his mom Carolyn, a teacher in our school district, and his brother Garrett, a senior at FHS. 

As I remember Dylan, I'd like to share this Amy Krouse Rosenthal video clip that asks - 

How do you want to be remembered?