Tragic News

Our family got some very tragic news early Saturday morning. My brother's best friend, Jansen, passed away. This is devastating news to my entire family. We all cared about Jansen just like he was part of our family. My brother and him had moved into their own house in November. Even though they had moved out they were still regulars around our house, especially when food was being served. My brother woke up to come over and eat lunch over here with all of us. Andrew went into Jansen's room and found him, appearing to be sleeping, in his bed. They are still investigating the cause of his death, and right now nothing has turned up on any tests.


Many of you have met Jansen, because over the past several years he has become a second brother to me. If you check my photos regularly he shows up in a lot of them. My family sort of "took in" Jansen as a second son. Jansen spent a lot of time at our house, and not many days would go by without seeing him. Jansen also spent many holidays and vacations with us over the years. Christmas's, Florida trips, visiting family out of state, or just a weekend trip to the lake. Honestly, we just planned on Jansen coming no matter where we were headed. But, really what sticks out most in my mind, is just him being around here and hanging out all the time doing nothing in particular.


My heart is breaking because I feel as if I have lost a huge piece of my life. To see my brother walk up to the house alone and not see Jansen trailing shortly behind him hits me really hard. I am having a difficult time even imagining getting older and Jansen not being there. It is hard to explain in words how much I cared about him.

I also have so many questions to ask, and I know that I can't get any answers. I wonder if he knew how much we all loved him. I wonder if he is ok, and if he is in a better place. I wonder what went wrong on that night. I wonder what was the last thing I said to him. I wonder if my brother is going to be able to get through this. I wonder what tomorrow will be like and the day after that.....and most importantly I hope Jansen knows that there are very few people in this world that I loved as much as I loved him.