Rest in Peace Sweet Girl

"People do not die for us immediately, but remain bathed in a sort of aura of life which bears no relation to true immortality but through which they continue to occupy our thoughts in the same way as when they were alive.  It is as though they were traveling abroad."  ~Marcel Proust


For one year of my life I was a cheerleader.  Yes, a cheerleader.  The rest have been filled with multiple team sports but for one season in the 7th grade I was a cheerleader.  This is where I met one of my best friends, Courtney and also where I came to know a little girl by the name of Kaitlin Brown.  

Kaitlin was the little mascot for this squad.  She was a tiny little girl, very petite and maybe 35 pounds soaking wet.  She was around 7 years old at the time and was a very lively, bubbly little thing.  Always happy and always smiling.  


Over the years I came to know her family better.  They were very close with the family of my best friend, Kaitlins brother Cameron was in my class and her parents and my parents sometimes ran in the same circle.  


After I left for college I saw Kaitlin here and there.  Always smiling and still so very petite.  


Sadly, Kaitlin was killed in a motorcycle crash late last week.  She was 29.  Her family had to lay their only daughter, only sister to rest today.  Way too young.


My father said the other night, "I wish your generation would just stop all this and let us go first."  You aren't really supposed to have to bury your children.  It goes to show you how quickly ANYTHING can change and how fleeting life on this earth can be.  


My heart goes out to the Brown Family.  They are wonderful people.  Kind people.  And they surely do not deserve the heart break of something so tragic as losing a loved one so early.  I am also thinking of the Herron Family right now.  They were so close with the Browns that although they are not blood, they are family, and they too have lost a daughter, a sister.

The song "If I Die Young" by The Band Perry comes to mind right now.  It seems very fitting for this very sad day.

"Lord make me a rainbow, I'll shine down on my mother
She'll know I'm safe with you when she stands under my colors, oh well
Life ain't always what you think it ought to be, no
Ain't even grey, but she buries her baby"

I know Kaitlin will shine down on everyone and I will always remember her as a smiling little bubbly seven year old girl that loved being a cheerleader with the big kids.  

Rest in peace, Kaitlin.  You will be missed.