Daryn

Today is November 3, 2006. This marks the 22nd anniversary of the day that my older brother Daryn died in a horrible car accident. I can't believe so many years have gone by. He's been gone now almost as long as he was here. I was 8 years old the day that it happened. It was his 23rd birthday. He had gone out to "celebrate" his birthday at the Paradise bar with his friends and cousins. It was beer for a dime day. Everybody drank too much. I finally understand as an adult that when everybody drinks no one has good judgement. For years I blamed my older cousins who let him get into that truck and drive to Plains. I was after all, only eight. Things are pretty black and white to little kids. Now I understand that they all (including Daryn) had a huge lapse in judgement that day. He just got caught by it that time.

My brother was good to me. He loved kids and he always made a real effort to make me feel special. He was a good man with a good heart. For years I pretended to myself that he wasn't really dead, that he had just gone on a very long vacation. Or that he had been kidnapped and someday he would escape and return to us. I was afraid that he was going to disappear from my memory, that I wouldn't remember his voice or what it felt like to be with him. I shouldn't have worried though. He still shows up in my dreams, even after all this time.

I know someday I will see him again, because the bible tells us that there will be a resurrection of anyone who has fallen asleep in death. I really look forward to meeting him and knowing him as an adult. I will be HIS older sister. Until then, I will always remember and miss him.