One Sweet Day

"One Sweet Day" by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men was the song played at my cousin Jason's funeral in 1996. He was 16 years old and was killed in a head-on car accident. I was in the 3rd grade, and during that sad and confusing time my cousin "Little" Joe, who was two years younger than me, and I leaned on each other for support. While the adults discussed adult things in hushed voices, Little Joe and I talked about the accident and what we overheard our parents talking about concerning the untimely death of our cousin. Mainly, we wondered what happened to him - what caused the accident? who was to blame? how did he die? was it painful? did he realize what was happening? did he die immediately? I can remember us playing with a Magic 8 Ball and Little Joe asked it, "Did Jason die right away?" The 8 Ball answered, "Yes," and we were relieved.

I can only hope my Magic 8 Ball would give me the same answer if I asked it about Little Joe's death.

For those of you who don't know, my cousin Joe and three other men were killed in a head-on collision last Saturday, September 18. Joe leaves behind a fiancée and two sons, and his two friends leave behind children and significant others as well. Sean and I missed the funeral yesterday, but my mom told me it was beautiful. She told me that the many, many people who loved him were there and that "One Sweet Day" was the third song played at the service.

I'm completely at a loss as to what to say or do. What is there to say about one of your best childhood friends? We were with each other nearly everyday because one of our moms was watching all of us. I can remember us playing on dirt piles (yes I said dirt piles, as in piles of dirt!) at our granddaddy's auto body repair shop, making mud pies with his brother Anthony and my sister Kristina under the tree in the back yard, and breaking up our play time with juice barrels. I remember the butt-whooping I got when we decided it would be a great idea to play "swing the giant hook on the back of the wrecker" and I smacked him in the head with the hook after we'd been told over and over and over not to play on the wrecker. I remember watching A Goofy Movie every single day on the tv in his bedroom while my aunt yelled at us to clean up his room and put all of the toys back in the football-shaped Little Tikes toybox. We weathered hurricanes, head lice, and the deaths of our Granddaddy Leonard and Granny Janice together, and it didn't matter if it had been years since we saw each other last - we were still great friends.

The last time I saw him was at his mom's wedding a few years ago. He was absolutely handsome, and we had so much fun just hanging out and catching up at the reception. I would have never thought in a million years that I'd never see him again, never meet his fiancée and children, and never get to say goodbye.

Rest in peace Little Joe; I'll love you forever and ever.