Hendrix. Cobain. Joplin. Winehouse. All names of greats taken too soon. Most of them related to drugs, but still taken way too soon from this world. It's hard to understand, and hard to take. Thinking of how much we loved them while here on Earth, and how many more great things they could have accomplished if they could have stayed a little longer.

But what happens when it's someone you know, someone you're close with?

That person that brought a smile to everyone's face when they entered the room. The one that made everyone laugh. The one that sent you a text to check on you, even when y'all had not talked in a while. A person who was always there. A person who told it like it is and was brutally honest, but only for your own good and because they cared. That is hard to fathom.

A girl I had known a few years, worked with, rode horses with, and spent a little time with, fits this description. She was a great friend, beautiful on the inside and out, and loved by many. We all thought we would have her around for a while. We thought she would be here to grow up with us, start a family, and grow old with us. But that didn't happen. Before anyone could have ever possibly been ready, she was taken. Sent to a place much greater than here, but nonetheless, away from us. Memories were cut short, things left unsaid, and time was stolen.

Shocking doesn't even begin to describe the feeling of having someone ripped away so soon.

You have regrets of not spending as much time with someone, of not telling them just how much you loved and appreciated them. You wonder what memories could have been made, what they would have looked like in 10 years, or 20. It is quite impossible for the mind to comprehend how someone is just gone. You try to have faith and tell yourself this is all part of a plan, but it doesn't make it any easier.

The question of why haunts your mind.

The sorrow, pain, and longing are unexplainable. However, we must be reminded of the good times, the memories, and the blessing of having them for a short time. We must be thankful that they were even in our lives at all. We must be amazed at how much of an impact they made on everyone in such a short period of time. It truly is great that are taken young. The ones whose impact is so powerful that they only needed a short while here on Earth to make a difference. The ones with a contagious energy that will be remembered long after they are gone. It is those that are so hard to lose, yet so easy to remember.

We have peace in knowing that although their time here on Earth was cut short, their peaceful eternity has begun.

RIP, Des, you will be missed greatly.