Today is Dagan's 22nd birthday.....a birthday he won't get to celebrate in this earthly plane. A birthday he will instead celebrate in Heaven with his grandparents, his uncle Steve, and all the other family that went before him.
He should be here eagerly anticipating the start of hockey season, his upcoming marriage, and the birth of his first son. Unfortunately, that wasn't the plan for his life here on earth.
I hate to say the words. My beautiful perfect nephew died. I even hate the word. Died. Die. Death. It’s shit. Awful. It terrifies me. I have experienced death close to home before, but it's still hard. He was only 21 years old and wasn’t like a nephew. He was so much more. He was like a brother, a son, a friend.
For some reason, today I am reliving THAT day. That day our world came crashing down on my amazing family. Why did this happen? A question that goes unanswered as I shout to the skies many times, hoping to know why he was taken away from us so suddenly. What purpose could he serve above that was more important that the future he was building here on earth?
Life is full of human suffering and can often seem profoundly unfair. I've been thinking about today for a few days now. How hard it would be for his parents, his grandparents, his little brother.....all of us who, in our own way, are still trying to understand and accept that he truly isn't here. I want us all to just be able to celebrate what an amazing young man he was, and what a blessing he was to everyone who ever knew him.
I appreciate how some family relationships are being repaired through this sorrow, but I wish it wouldn't have taken this. It's ironic that through death we are often reminded how to live. I wonder if Dagan was such a blessing that, even in his untimely death, he brought people together.
He was eulogized as someone who exemplified pure joy and selfless love to everyone. He was always seeing things positively and looked for the goodness in everything. He set that example for all of us and put into context what we can all strive for. He profoundly reminded us all of that.
As a family, we manage to get though life by sticking together. Remaining a close family that’s full of support and one that always keeps Dagan's memory alive. We talk. We talk about him. About the good times. About the times he made us laugh. We recreate the memories and the laughter, and we keep spirits high. We gather family, extended family and friends and smile. He is forever in our hearts and made such a difference to our lives for those 21 years. We treasure that time we got given with him.
My nephew was an absolutely amazing young man. Honestly, he was so unbelievably happy, carefree, funny, social, selfless – he was a shining star. He was a treasure.
I love and miss him so much.
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