Dylan,
There are so many things I want to say to you. I thought I would have had years to do so…When I think of my childhood you are all I can remember. Nearly every one of my memories has you in it. The good and bad. I’m so sorry that this had to happen to you, (words cannot convey just how tremendously sorry I am)– you who had a full and exceptionally significant life. It feels so wrong that it had to be you and not someone else. You would have gone on to do such incredible things – for yourself, and for others too. The impact that you had in such a short time on so many lives is truly amazing. I am now and always was in complete awe of you. I’ve heard from so many people that growing up, they copied everything you did and wanted more than anything to be just like you. I was the same – and it drove you crazy! But that is a huge credit and tribute to who you were; you always knew without a doubt exactly what you wanted – be it in life or simply what you wanted to gain from a single day, a single minute. Most people, even those decades beyond you, still strive for that – and you had it at two or three years old.
It still seems so unreal that such a huge, remarkable personality can just stop existing and in an instant go missing from this world. Your death has left a colossal abyss; one that for years to come the entire world will grieve and yearn for. Those who never had the privilege of knowing you may think the previous statement is a little extreme, but I can guarantee if they had met you for even a mere minute, they would have been left thinking that they had just seen something entirely unique and special.
I also owe you an apology. The first ten years of our life we spent a huge amount of time together, but the last ten I was pretty absent and I’m deeply sorry for that. Though maybe I should be apologising not to you but to myself – I missed out on Dylan the young adult and man. I know I will regret that for the entirety of my life. However, I did get to spend your last Christmas and New Year (sort of) with you and for that I will be forever thankful.
Even in your death you have given so much. I cannot speak for others (though I’m sure it is true for them too), but you have showed me what it is to live. I was wasting my life and I promise you that I will not let myself do that any longer. You have given me perspective and made me realise and appreciate the important things in my life and allowed me to dismiss those that are unimportant. It’s a strange and twisted thing, but in your death you have given me a life – or the ability and desire to make one for myself. I thank you so much for that. So Dylan, my darling cousin and friend, I raise my glass to you and thank you on behalf of so many – for your incredible personality, honesty, loyalty, cheekiness and wit, your smile and your totally distinctive and infectious laugh. I can still hear it now…I will see you again. Of that I am sure…we still have so much to talk about D.Y……
I will love you forever and always,
Sinead.
There are so many things I want to say to you. I thought I would have had years to do so…When I think of my childhood you are all I can remember. Nearly every one of my memories has you in it. The good and bad. I’m so sorry that this had to happen to you, (words cannot convey just how tremendously sorry I am)– you who had a full and exceptionally significant life. It feels so wrong that it had to be you and not someone else. You would have gone on to do such incredible things – for yourself, and for others too. The impact that you had in such a short time on so many lives is truly amazing. I am now and always was in complete awe of you. I’ve heard from so many people that growing up, they copied everything you did and wanted more than anything to be just like you. I was the same – and it drove you crazy! But that is a huge credit and tribute to who you were; you always knew without a doubt exactly what you wanted – be it in life or simply what you wanted to gain from a single day, a single minute. Most people, even those decades beyond you, still strive for that – and you had it at two or three years old.
It still seems so unreal that such a huge, remarkable personality can just stop existing and in an instant go missing from this world. Your death has left a colossal abyss; one that for years to come the entire world will grieve and yearn for. Those who never had the privilege of knowing you may think the previous statement is a little extreme, but I can guarantee if they had met you for even a mere minute, they would have been left thinking that they had just seen something entirely unique and special.
I also owe you an apology. The first ten years of our life we spent a huge amount of time together, but the last ten I was pretty absent and I’m deeply sorry for that. Though maybe I should be apologising not to you but to myself – I missed out on Dylan the young adult and man. I know I will regret that for the entirety of my life. However, I did get to spend your last Christmas and New Year (sort of) with you and for that I will be forever thankful.
Even in your death you have given so much. I cannot speak for others (though I’m sure it is true for them too), but you have showed me what it is to live. I was wasting my life and I promise you that I will not let myself do that any longer. You have given me perspective and made me realise and appreciate the important things in my life and allowed me to dismiss those that are unimportant. It’s a strange and twisted thing, but in your death you have given me a life – or the ability and desire to make one for myself. I thank you so much for that. So Dylan, my darling cousin and friend, I raise my glass to you and thank you on behalf of so many – for your incredible personality, honesty, loyalty, cheekiness and wit, your smile and your totally distinctive and infectious laugh. I can still hear it now…I will see you again. Of that I am sure…we still have so much to talk about D.Y……
I will love you forever and always,
Sinead.