Dear Friend,

It has been 16 years since God called you home. I remembered clearly that you were in my kindergarten class and we hung out together in the school playground almost every single day. When you were in second grade, your parents found out you had leukemia. While some days you weren’t sick, you still had a smile on your face and laughed when you talked about the upcoming Christmas season. You were so full of life and hope.

However, God had a different plan for you in mind. He wanted you to be happier so he took you home. I remembered seeing you absent from school one day and wondering where you were. You weren’t around much for third grade and I heard from the other teachers that you wanted to be a pirate for the annual third grade play. Rather than reciting lines and putting on your play costume, you were hooked up to tubes, poked, and prodded so that the chemotherapy could help you kill the cancer cells.

I am sure that you have had to endure so much pain. Your hair probably fell off in clumps and those who saw your head bald realized how vulnerable you were in the hospital bed. Death is a stage everyone go through at the end of their lives. You just went through that stage a little bit earlier.

I always wondered what kind of future you would have, if you were still alive. Your existence was so short but so precious. Your smile brightened up my weary days.

I miss you more than I can say, but rest up there, buddy. God loves you.

Watch over me. Cancer sucks, but life doesn’t. Life was better when you were in it.

Forever yours,

Sue :)