"the innocence of youth is definitely lost among us..."

I didn't write that, my ex-boyfriend did when he told me about a friend of his that had tragically been paralyzed in a tragic accident while attending this year's Daytona 500.

I wish I could say it was the first tragic thing I had heard about someone I've been connected with in recent times. I was trying to get ahold of my cousin for some time today and finally heard from her - she was in surburban Philadelphia with the family of a guy she is seeing, and his sister, Kristin Dickmann, had tragically died at 19. She was a freshman at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, and had simply laid down for a nap and never woke up. Her roommates had found her unresponsive and she was later declared dead at the local hospital.

It just sucks.

A lot of people may remember that my cousin's sister, Laura Begor, died in a car accident on Christmas Eve of 2003. I was supposed to spend the holiday in Boston that year, and I ended up flying to Delaware on Christmas Day, and the funeral was the day after. I was devastated, as was the rest of my family - Laura was just a one-in-a-million kind of girl. Anyone who met her instantly wanted to be her best friend, and she was one of those people that could be a sunshine in the darkest of places. Her on-and-off boyfriend throughout the years said it right - she could be sad about the saddest of things and then you could give her a french fry and she'd light up like a Christmas tree. It was just Laura. I don't remember much of the days after her death - but I don't think I'll ever forget seeing her mom and sister saying good-bye to the casket before the hearse left for cremation. It's literally the worst thing I have ever ever ever seen. Even though I loved her and she was a genuine friend in addition to being my cousin - I can't imagine what her parents and brother and sister go through every day. Every day I remember something different about her, think of something I'd love for her to be here to see, and wish that it could have just not happened.

I didn't know Kyle's sister, and had only met him a couple of times, but it still just breaks my heart to think of what his family is going through and what they've got ahead of them - for decades ahead. I try to help in these situations and I'm just dumbfounded. I picked up my cousin's dog so she could somehow try to be there for their family and then make it through her last semester of law school's finals, but I know that nothing anyone does is enough.

Like I said, it just really sucks.

My ex isn't a man of many words, but after a five-year war, 9/11 and a seemingly endless number of tragic occurrences, his words just hit the nail on the head - the innocence of youth is definitely lost among us.