"More than a stunning debut. It is the announcement of a bold new literary voice"
—Stephen Chbosky, author of The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Hi Uncle Jason, you probably don’t remember me, after all I was just a baby when you chose to hang. I can’t help but feel partially guilty about your choice. Is it strange to miss someone you’ve never known. My parents tell me stories about how much of a good person you were and how much you helped those around you, I’m kinda jealous. I do try…I try to be like you, I try to be like the hero I’ll never meet. I also hope you’re happy, where ever you may be. Dad misses you, he would always alert us to your birthday and I would celebrate it…alone, I’m told that I got my middle name from you. I guess that means we’re closer than we think? I don’t know, at this point I’m rambling. I should let you go, I hope you’re watching over and protecting us. I guess I’ll see you when I see you…um, bye!

My love’s counterfeit light was truly shrouded in darkness. Surrounded by the unspeakable and unforgiving horrors that reached only the unfathomable places in his heart. My one truest wish is that I could have prevented the darkness from consuming his precious soul away from my now cold, shallow, and empty embrace. Why, Death? Why, you fathomless and deceitful creature, did you take the person that I truly loved, adored, and fully cared about away from my grasp? Why did you not take me? Thou should’ve taken me. You should have taken me, Death. Not a pure and immaculate soul such as he. He did not deserve this. No, my love, you have not forsaken me. In fact, this only made me want nothing more in the world than to be with you, love you, and care for you like I never could. This only made me want to love you longer. This only made me want to love you better. I want you to know that you never annoyed me. At all. To any certain extent. I never really had a chance to tell you my honest and truest feelings. And for that I deeply and sincerely regret. I never had a chance to tell you how much I really adored you, ... Read more

I miss you so very much. You have missed a lot in the past year. I know you probably wouldn’t remember anything though because you are just a baby. We had a party for you on your first birthday. We sent balloons up to you in heaven. I hope you have seen them. One day you will be able to read them and know exactly how much you are loved and missed by not just me but everyone in our family. You are seriously the most loved little boy I have ever met. Not a day goes by without me thinking about you. I am constantly wishing you were still here with us. I wanted to watch you grow up into a young man and become an amazing person. Now you get to watch me get older and grow. I’m sad it had to be the other way around but we will meet again someday and catch up on everything. I hope you and great papa are having fun up there. I only met him when I was a baby just like you are and from all of the stories I have heard of him he is an amazing, funny ... Read more

I miss you. I know it hasn’t been long since you left but I miss you. I know that you are in a better place though now. You’re no longer in pain and no longer in whatever this world is becoming, but I miss you. I’m sorry I couldn’t visit you often before you left. I miss all the times that my sister and I would go to your apartment and talk with you for hours. I miss your old house that we would go to and you would watch my sister and me and we would play board games or hula-hoop. I miss whenever my parents would go see a movie together, and they would drop me off at your house. We had the best times during then and you took care of me so well. You were so strong up until the very end. You made everybody laugh so much. I don’t think there has ever been so much laughter coming out of a hospital room like that. I just wish that I could see you one last time but I know that it isn’t possible. You were one of the best people to walk this earth. You’ve ... Read more

I miss you. I know it hasn’t been long since you left but I miss you. I know that you are in a better place though now. You’re no longer in pain and no longer in whatever this world is becoming, but I miss you. I’m sorry I couldn’t visit you often before you left. I miss all the times that my sister and I would go to your apartment and talk with you for hours. I miss your old house that we would go to and you would watch my sister and me and we would play board games or hula-hoop. I miss whenever my parents would go see a movie together, and they would drop me off at your house. We had the best times during then and you took care of me so well. You were so strong up until the very end. You made everybody laugh so much. I don’t think there has ever been so much laughter coming out of a hospital room like that. I just wish that I could see you one last time but I know that it isn’t possible. You were one of the best people to walk this earth. You’ve ... Read more

It’s been over a year since we had to make that terrible and heartbreaking decision to let you go. It seems having dogs, or any pet for that matter, always ends with some form of sadness. We know you didn’t live a good life, you lived a great one. We all knew someday you would move on and go to wherever our bundles of energy go. Is it called “Doggy Heaven” like everyone says it is? Anyways, you just happened to deteriorate in health so fast. The whole process wasn’t slow it was a quick end. I think you made the most out of your 12 years though. I remember the first time I saw you as a puppy just going nuts because you were a labrador that didn’t know what sleep was. I can’t say you were one of the brightest or sharpest knives in the drawer but everything you did was for us. It seemed as your main goal in life was to make us happy. Humans have bad days. We get caught in our emotions, for better or worse, and we don’t bring that same energy and enthusiasm to our loved ones everyday. You never had a ... Read more

It’s been over a year since we had to make that terrible and heartbreaking decision to let you go. It seems having dogs, or any pet for that matter, always ends with some form of sadness. We know you didn’t live a good life, you lived a great one. We all knew someday you would move on and go to wherever our bundles of energy go. Is it called “Doggy Heaven” like everyone says it is? Anyways, you just happened to deteriorate in health so fast. The whole process wasn’t slow it was a quick end. I think you made the most out of your 12 years though. I remember the first time I saw you as a puppy just going nuts because you were a labrador that didn’t know what sleep was. I can’t say you were one of the brightest or sharpest knives in the drawer but everything you did was for us. It seemed as your main goal in life was to make us happy. Humans have bad days. We get caught in our emotions, for better or worse, and we don’t bring that same energy and enthusiasm to our loved ones everyday. You never had a ... Read more

It’s been over a year since we had to make that terrible and heartbreaking decision to let you go. It seems having dogs, or any pet for that matter, always ends with some form of sadness. We know you didn’t live a good life, you lived a great one. We all knew someday you would move on and go to wherever our bundles of energy go. Is it called “Doggy Heaven” like everyone says it is? Anyways, you just happened to deteriorate in health so fast. The whole process wasn’t slow it was a quick end. I think you made the most out of your 12 years though. I remember the first time I saw you as a puppy just going nuts because you were a labrador that didn’t know what sleep was. I can’t say you were one of the brightest or sharpest knives in the drawer but everything you did was for us. It seemed as your main goal in life was to make us happy. Humans have bad days. We get caught in our emotions, for better or worse, and we don’t bring that same energy and enthusiasm to our loved ones everyday. You never had a ... Read more

My life without you changed me. It caused me a great amount of pain. I never forgave you, and if I could go back and forgive you I wouldn’t. I hope it was as hard on you as it was from me just a little bit harder. I looked up to you for a long time as a loving and caring soul. Everytime we were in the car and your favorite music would come on you would make me sing with you.Now every time the same song comes on i turn it off. It has caused me pain to think that it’s all over now and i have someone new. You will always have a place in my memories and a tiny place in my heart. Sometimes I wish I could erase you in every way possible but I can’t. My family and I have all grieved your death, and they still all miss you, but I don’t. It affected me greatly but I am another person now. I’m trying hard in school to show you and my family that i am capable of achieving. Now I am here to show you that i am capable of letting you go. ... Read more

I miss you, a lot. I miss watching Kentucky basketball games with you, they always seemed to win when I watched them with you. The games were so much better with you and I miss those good times we had together. I was sad to see you go but it’s nice to know you’re in a better place now with your brother, my Uncle Johnny. I’ve never seen my dad cry until he found out that you had passed away, and that’s when I realized how much of an impact you made on the whole family. I wish I got to spend more time with you than I did but it was hard because you lived in Hawaii and I love in Ohio. I always loved those texts I’d get from you if Kentucky won a big game that we weren’t able to watch together. When you died from skin cancer it made grandpa really scared for all of us. He made me go to the doctor and get checked out and now anytime I go outside, even if it’s not sunny he makes me put on sunscreen and he dumps about a whole bottle on me. It’s to ... Read more