I've Seen Fire and I've Seen Rain

So I just found out that a friend of mine died recently, and I'm getting pissed off cause I can't find out how he died.

But it's a little shocking to hear about, and I'm getting flashbacks to when I was 17 and found out that my friend Garrett died.

Let me tell you though, hearing that someone's life has ended puts things into perspective...and makes me really realize that I should stop being so fucking sad over life, cause at least I have it.

And yeah, I know it's so stupid to finally come to that realization when someone DIES--like that's what it has to take--but sometimes it does.

So this is for my friend Leonard, who was my age, and a genuinely nice person--a little bit of nerd, a little bit of sincereness, a little bit of cuteness all mixed into one person. Death is so elusive, and it's hard to believe that anyone should go so young.

There's nothing more to say here, only that we should appreciate every moment, every single moment. I'll leave you with a comment Leonard left me once when I posted a sad blog on facebook (I don't write on facebook often)...I hadn't talked to him in years, but I've known him since middle school, he said:

Hey Ashley,
I haven't seen or talked to you in forever, but on the news feed when I just signed on this was one of the first things I saw and it made me pretty sad to hear. Life is a highway full of smooth riding but every now and then there those occasional bumps in the road. Life happens and basically that sucks, but there are so many great things in life. Whenever I hit a low in life, which has been happening a lot lately with the stress of school building and life in general, I always find comfort in knowing that everything happens for a reason, whether it be a good thing to put a smile on our face, or a bad thing to help us grow and learn from. My favorite prayer when I'm sad is the Serenity Prayer, it's a really good one and helps me to understand and deal with things. I hope things get better and that you get many hugs, if i could I would send a hug from Michigan, but maybe we can hang out sometime when I'm back in Cali and I'll give ya that hug. Take care now and smile.

I think this sums up Leonard all in one paragraph.