Only The Good Die Young

This should have been written on April 15th...

You, Aaron, and Morgan came to the hospital when I was born, Carol brought all of you because just like every weekday until I was 6, she would watch all four of us while our parents were at work. I'll never forget all the times we would spend all day swimming in the pool and then going and laying on the blacktop driveway to warm up. You and Aaron would tell me scary stories, that still to this day freak me out if I think about them. All the nights we spend "camping out" in your back yard, playing in the woods, sledding down the huge hill at Pinkley's, Awanas on Wednesday night at church, and so many other childhood memories that I could never forget. Even when we moved away, we still would see eachother often, even as we got older there was always a bond.You had a huge impact on my childhood and you and your brother Aaron were my first friends.

I'll never forget the day in 8th grade when I got off the bus to have my mom meet me in the front yard, which was rare. When she walked up and gave me a hug I could tell she had been crying and something was horribly wrong. When she said "there was an car accident and Bradley is dead." I couldn't beleive it I felt my stomach drop and my heart sank. I burried my head into my mom's chest and cried. I was almost in shock, two of my grandparents had died and I didn't feel this way because it was kind of expected, they were sickly. But this was a total surprise, a young man should not die. At your funeral, my dad was talking to your mom and I'll never forget what she said "it feels like a part of my heart is missing." Your funeral was so hard, the hardest part was when my dad started crying and put his arms around me and Morgan, as if to embrace us as he realized how precious life was.

Your time on this Earth was over on April 15, 2003. God wanted you to come back to him, you had fulfilled your duty. I know that you are protecting all of us and watching over us. I know when we get to Heaven, you'll be there.

R.I.P. Bradley Paul Stauffer.