- I will miss your use of the word "nicesh", and how easily everyone around you picked it up
- I will miss your letters and poems: whether they were silly or serious, they were always sincere
- I will miss seeing how excited you got when you bought Combos, one of your favorite guilty pleasures, especially when you bought them from Menard's as a movie snack
- I will miss arguing with you. You were never afraid to challenge me, make me stand for something and push me to consider all the possibilities. You made sure that our arguments were never grudges and whether one of us conceded or we simply agreed to disagree, apologies or thank yous were always exchanged and life would move on as normal after
- I will miss our lengthy chats in our classrooms: those that occurred when we probably should have been working, but life seemed to get in the way and one of us just needed to talk
- I will miss coming to you for one of my "Am I being crazy?" talks because you are the only person who had no problem being brutally honest with me
- I will miss our movie nights, where it always seemed to be your turn to pick, but let's face it, we both know I am terrible at decisions so that was probably for the best.
- I will miss our ridiculous Wii tournaments spent conquering the levels of Mario Party, trying to figure out if we really were smarter than 5th graders (the results were always inconclusive) or betting each other over what the number one answer in Family Feud would be
- I will miss the times we spent talking through life decisions: deciding to move to Colombia or return home after, making career changes or going back to school
- I will miss hearing about your adventures and misadventures, like that time you realized you did not in fact enjoy hiking 15+ km per day
- I will remember all of the things you taught me
- You taught me about history and kept me up to date on current events
- I learned to tolerate and even enjoy country music
- I learned what a crick and timber are and how to go crick stompin'
- You taught me to drive fearlessly on dark country roads
- You taught me that it's OK to not always have it together and you let me be a hot mess sometimes
- I learned (and witnessed many times) what it truly means to dance like nobody is watching
- You taught me that what others think about me is not even remotely as important as what I think about myself
- I learned to cherish the small moments in life: a quick phone call before bed, quietly reading in the park, a walk through the woods, a short conversation with a stranger
- I learned (sort of) how to play tennis, or at least how to defend myself against your serves
- I will remember (and laugh about) your innate ability to be covered in crumbs, no matter what you were eating
- I will remember the hours you spent searching for and downloading the Stars Wars saga so that I could watch them all for the first time
- I will remember your love for Taco Pizza, especially if it came from Happy Joe's
- I will remember our last minute Austin road trip: attempting to make it to salsa lessons, lazer tag and your purple face after drinking margaritas too fast
- I will remember (and now laugh about) how we missed our flight to Miami because you had a steak knife in your computer bag, leftover from the cheese and crackers you would take to school for lunch
- I will remember all the times you stole my clothes. From running shorts to t-shirts to hiking pants you took it all. If any of my clothes had gone missing, chances were that you had it. Even better was that you would admit to liking them so much you offered to buy several items from me because you just didn't think you could go out and find them to purchase yourself
- I will remember all the times you showed up at my apartment door last year out of the blue just because
- I will remember the times I caught you listening and practicing song lyrics (usually rap) on YouTube, so you could be a master karaokier (and possibly the next Eminem)
- I will remember how you always seemed to have a prop to dance with whether you offered your umbrella to a singer at a bar in Cali as she sang Rihanna or whipped out your Razor while singing Lady Gaga's "Telephone" at Jess & Dan's wedding
- I will remember your words of encouragement whenever I was unsure of myself
- I will remember the light in your eyes when you were feeling better, when you were having a good day
- I will remember how your face lit up with joy and pride whenever you updated me about your family, which is how many of our conversations started
- I will never forget your undying love for the silly north side baseball team, although to be honest I'd go to another game with you in a heartbeat
- I will cherish the times we spent huddled around one of our laptops watching a Hawkeye or Bears game
- I will remember you excitedly telling me about how you finally bought a smart phone and how late you stayed up downloading apps (all after making fun of me for years for my iPhone)
- I wish we could talk one more time and that I could tell you again how important you are, how loved you are and how strong you are
- I wish I would have called to catch up one more time and tell you how proud I was of you
- I wish I could have seen you as a husband and father, because you would have been amazing at both
- I would have reassured your kids that you were not trying to embarrass them with your insane dancing and singing in front of their friends, but rather teaching them a lesson about being yourself and loving life
- I would have loved to see you in whatever career path you chose
- I wish I could talk through my future life decisions with you
- I thought one day I'd be inviting you to my wedding and having to explain that "no it's not weird if David is there...I mean it's David!"
- I will be forever grateful for the relationship and friendship we built over the last 4 years.
- I will cherish the many memories that help me make it through each day.
- I am appreciative of all that you taught me and how much you helped me grow. I will do my best to carry these things with me always.
- I am thankful for having had you in my life. I wouldn't exchange a single tear or drop of pain if it meant not having known you.
They say that it's always darkest before the dawn and I wish you could have stayed to see the sun rise again. The heart ache that I feel now is shared by so many who knew and loved you; I hope that you can find a way to help guide us through this. My life has forever changed for having known and lost you. You truly were one of a kind Davy Jo.
