The first memories I have of Daniel Schatz are vague. I mostly just see pictures of him and me in old photo albums, and create my own memories of what I imagined happened. I see him holding me the day I was born, us eating birthday cake together, riding golf carts together, and other things cousins do. He was my first cousin, so we were closely related, more like siblings than cousins. I do remember a little bit of him, mostly from the years leading up to his death. He was a straight-A student, played football for Mizzou, and was respected by everyone he knew. Older adults come up to me all the time and say things like, “My son always looked up to Daniel. He’s changed so many lives!” And all I can do is smile and take pride in the fact that
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Grandma Hallam always watched me, my sister Ava, and my cousin Balor during the day until our moms could pick us up from work. Me and Balor were watching Spongebob in my grandma's room, and Ava was off doing who knows what. After our episode was over, Balor and I decided to go outside to play with chalk. We always ground the chalk up, put it into our hands, and blew it at each other. However, our fun was disrupted when cars flooded the driveway. Every single one of our family members were in my grandma’s driveway within ten minutes, with the exception of Chara (Daniel’s mom), Carmen (Daniel’s Aunt), and Devon (Daniel’s sister), who were in Texas. After people began running inside, Balor and I quickly decided to hide in my grandma’s room until further notice. We debated for at least a half-hour whether or not to go out and become a part of the mouse-like chatter. As far as we knew, someone was having a surprise birthday party. We bet each other money to see who would do it first. Balor was fidgeting with a flashlight on my grandpa’s nightstand, “Come on! What are you, scared? This is our family! If something was wrong, they would surely tell us.” Balor would say, just to try and make me give in. When I finally did, all I remember is walking down the dark hallways towards tears and sorrow, having no idea what was happening. Since was only ten at the time, I wasn’t too worried. One of my cousins dying was the last thing on my
Grandma Hallam always watched me, my sister Ava, and my cousin Balor during the day until our moms could pick us up from work. Me and Balor were watching Spongebob in my grandma's room, and Ava was off doing who knows what. After our episode was over, Balor and I decided to go outside to play with chalk. We always ground the chalk up, put it into our hands, and blew it at each other. However, our fun was disrupted when cars flooded the driveway. Every single one of our family members were in my grandma’s driveway within ten minutes, with the exception of Chara (Daniel’s mom), Carmen (Daniel’s Aunt), and Devon (Daniel’s sister), who were in Texas. After people began running inside, Balor and I quickly decided to hide in my grandma’s room until further notice. We debated for at least a half-hour whether or not to go out and become a part of the mouse-like chatter. As far as we knew, someone was having a surprise birthday party. We bet each other money to see who would do it first. Balor was fidgeting with a flashlight on my grandpa’s nightstand, “Come on! What are you, scared? This is our family! If something was wrong, they would surely tell us.” Balor would say, just to try and make me give in. When I finally did, all I remember is walking down the dark hallways towards tears and sorrow, having no idea what was happening. Since was only ten at the time, I wasn’t too worried. One of my cousins dying was the last thing on my