Sometimes life is unfair...

Yesterday, everyone lost a little piece of themselves when my cousin passed away. It's hard enough when someone is gone, but to know that his life ended at only 18 year just makes everything worse. I can't imagine what my aunt, uncle, and cousins are going through without him. I can't even imagine my life without him, let alone theirs. Ryan was the sweetest, smartest, and overall the most genuine person you could imagine. He was going to Miami of Ohio on a scholarship, and he wanted to become a doctor to save lives. Please let this be a lesson to everyone: be careful when you are drinking. Know your limits. Don't push it. It's not worth it. That one more drink can affect your own life and hundreds of others, as Ryan's unfortunate death has proven. Please keep my family in your prayers and thoughts. Rest in Peace, Ryan. I love you.

Death is nothing at all.

It does not count.

I have only slipped away into the next room.

Everything remains as it was.

The old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged.

Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.

Call me by the old familiar name.

Speak of me in the easy way which you always used.

Put no sorrow in your tone.

Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together.

Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.

Let my name be ever the household word that it always was.

Let it be spoken without effort

Life means all that it ever meant.

It is the same as it ever was.

There is unbroken continuity.

Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?

I am but waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just around the corner.

All is well.

Nothing is hurt; nothing is lost.

One brief moment and all will be as it was before.
How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting, when we meet again.

Brandon, Ryan's little brother, made a website for Ryan. Here it is: http://www.freewebs.com/aslongasyoulovme/index.htm