THIS STORY WAS WRITTEN IN AUGUST 2006 FOR A DEAR FRIEND WHO WAS TRAGICALLY TAKEN FROM THOSE WHO KNEW AND LOVED HIM MOST. HE WAS A GREAT FATHER HUSBAND AND MY BEST FRIEND.

I DONT KNOW WHY THINGS HAPPEN AND FOR WHAT REASON. BUT I KNOW THAT HIS MEMORY WILL GO ON FOREVER AND NEVER DIE.

FOR ANYONE WHO READS THIS I WANT YOU TO PLEASE SEND A PRAYER UP TO GOD FOR HIS FAMILY AND FRIEDS AND FOR ALL WHO KNEW HIM AND LOVED HIM.

YOU MAY NOT KNOW HIM BUT I HOPE THIS STORY BRINGS A LITTLE LIGHT INTO THE LIFE HE LEAD SO WELL. HE NEVER TOOK LIFE FOR GRANTED AND LIVED EACH DAY AS IF IT WERE HIS LAST. HE GAVE SO MUCH AND NEVER ASKED FOR A THING IN RETURN. I HOPE YOU CAN LEARN A LESSON FROM HIM.

 I LOVED HIM WITH ALL MY HEART AND I WILL NEVER FORGET THE WAY HE TOUCHED MY LIFE.

              THE RAIN
           BY: ashley sears
How can the rain have such an impact on the way you perceive things? I had no idea that on Saturday the 26th of August, 2006 the rain would change my life forever. I remember standing there hearing the rain beat on the roof of the house and feeling like the rain had taken him from me, like somehow the rain was the one to blame. I remember looking in the mirror and for the first time accepting that neither I nor my friends were invincible.
 
It was a cold Saturday evening when my best friend was taken from me. Everyone was standing around, joking, and just having fun. Then the bad news rolled in just like the storm had. He had been killed. They had done everything they could, but it just wasn't enough. "He's in a better place now," they kept saying, knowing that at that very moment, nothing could make things right. Nothing in this world could bring him back, and the rain that was once so peaceful now marked a tragedy in my life. 
 
As much as the thought of what might have happened that day haunted me, I guess I needed to know how his last minutes took place. No one is really sure what took place on that tragic day. They told me he had been riding his 4-wheeler in the rain. He always had a thing for mud and rain. For some reason, we think the accident may have been due to the weather, he lost control, and and was tragically injured it the impact. Although he was life flighted, even the best doctors couldn't have brought him back.
 The rain didn't stop that day. It came and went just as the tears did that came from my eyes. It rained the day of his wake and also the day of his funeral. As crazy as it seems the rain has fallen more often since his death than it has in the past. So call me crazy, but I think its Dave's way of saying that he's ok, and no matter how far away he is he'll always be a rain drop away in my heart.
 
The rain changed my life so much. From that cold chilly Saturday, when a good friend was taken away from me, to today, the day when I realized the relentless rain was just Dave's way of saying he wasn't really gone at all. I was so busy being angry at the rain I had no time to stop and think of what the rain had to show me. It showed me that life is so fragile, and it should never be taken for granted. So next time you feel a rain drop think of all those that you have lost and remember them and all that they stood for in your life, because the rain will never go away just like the memory of a good friend.