My New Story!

In Loving memory

Hey guys...

so in this chapter i'm taking a little break from the normal book stuff and I'm dedicating this chapter to my cousin, Bryce.

I feel like some or most of you already know what happened, but in case you don't I'll just give a quick backstory.

when i was little I basically grew up with my 3 cousins because my grandma and grandpa had custody of them and my grandma always babysat me because both of my parents had full time jobs. I was always closest to Bryce because we were only 5 months apart. We also went to the same school so we were always in the same classroom, which only made us closer. So to me, he was more of a brother and best friend. In 2010, when he was 14, he passed away in a completely random swimming accident caused by shallow water blackout which caused him to become unconscious and drown. 

It was a very hard time for me, and it's still hard for me to be here without him... Today (July 22) has been 5 years since he died, and I'm missing him a lot, but i thought i would share with you guys a picture of him because you've heard the name so many times, and now you can finally see my favorite person in the world.. I also wanted to share this little thing i wrote for him because it just kind of comforts me...

Bryce,

I've been thinking about you a lot lately... Missing you, wishing you were here, wanting to see your smile, hear your voice, feel a hug... Anything really... It's been a hard 5 years not having my best friend with me. All the time I find myself doing something and wanting to show it to you or tell you about it because that's what I had grown so used to doing. We told each other anything and everything and would never hesitate because we supported each other through it all.

I also think a lot about the memories I have with you. The time you poured salt into your cup of pepsi and told me it made it taste better, the time we thought it would be fun to be dogs and got down on our hands and knees and started crawling everywhere and after about 2 minutes realized it was a very bad (and uncomfortable) idea so we made imaginary dogs who we could play with instead, or the time we dug up worms in grandma and grandpa's backyard and then proceeded to put them into a bucket of water (because we thought it helped them breathe better) and then tried selling them in grandma and grandpa's front yard for 5 cents a worm. What smart kids we were ;) I think about how you would pop your neck and back during Bible class just to gross me out, or how we would pass notes even though we weren't really supposed to. The main memory I have of you, though, is when you fell into the lake when it was frozen and how me, Gage, and Dru had to get you home without Grandma finding out because we thought she would kill us all :P

I have found that not time, but love and memories are what gets us through the things that hurt our hearts the most. The memories make everything easier because it's still a piece of you here with me, and I'll keep them safe in my heart forever.

You weren't just my cousin. You were my best friend and you will always and forever be my big brother.

I miss you a lot, but I know you're happier where you are now.

I love you so so so much. <3

Love, duh-huh :)

Thanks for reading guys<3

fun fact of the day: "duh-huh" is what Bryce called me until we were about 5 because he could never pronounce my name quite right, and then continued to call me until we were about 8 just to annoy me..:P

not so fun fact of the day: As I was looking for pictures, i ran across a video that I believe was made for his funeral, and it had small clips of him talking and i realized that I didn't remember what his voice sounded like anymore, and it shattered my heart... :(

----Chandra <3