Good afternoon everyone,

Thank you all for coming to this funeral service,

My name is Karlee and today I will be speaking on behalf of my good friend, Youth.

Youth was a bundle of joy. She was the creases around our smile and the glow of our skin. She was the excitement and the laughter that filled the air on the playground. She was the magic of the holidays and the mystery of Santa Claus. She kept us all curious, yet so naive.

Her cause of death was the definition of tragic.

She suffered for a long time, and took her last breath with tears running down her face. She started to feel sick when we stopped jumping into piles of leaves and mounds of snow. She knew something was wrong when we stopped hugging our parents before bed. With every second spent on our phones, rather than staring out the window, making pictures out of clouds, she grew weaker. And the moment when she took her last breath, you were seeing, hearing, enduring, something a child should never have to see, hear, endure. The story of how Youth died is not pleasant, but those kinds of stories never are.

If she were here today, Youth would want us to remember her at her best. Remember the days when going to school filled you with so much excitement that your first day of school outfit was already picked out halfway through summer? Or the times when you would draw pictures for Santa and leave him cookies on your dining room table? How about the aroma of the toy store? The colors, the smells and endless isles of toys that kept you occupied for hours? Youth was there. She is the reason that a smile spreads across your face when you think about the things that I just mentioned.

She gave us the tools that we needed to become who we are today.

However, she died much too early. She had such great plans for us. We were supposed to feel her warmth for many more years than we did. All we can do now is appreciate her existence, and hope that someday we will see her again. Whether it be in the eyes of our own children, in the smiles of our nieces and nephews, or in the laughter of the children of our friends. Youth may be gone from our lives, but she will live in our hearts forever.