It’s hard to summarize everything about your best friend in a few short paragraphs, and what a life time meant to you in words. But here goes…
My best friend was one of the most complete and genuine people I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. His favorite meal was chicken fingers and French Fries, and it’s tough to remember, when we were together, a week that went by without him and I splitting a pizza. But some of the things I’ll always remember about him were his enthusiasm to do mundane things, his adventurous spirit, and his positive outlook on life; all of these traits, had you been in ear shot of him at the time, were infectious, and you were forced to join in or take part in whatever he was doing. He had the best way with children I can say I’ve ever witnessed, whether it was playing with my little cousins in the back yard, or molding an entire classroom of eager young minds. Educating was his passion. Most other people I’ve seen take the education path in college take it because they have nothing else to do, or they play sports and need to major in something. It was my best friend’s world, and anyone else who knew him could attest to this. For the longest time I could never figure out why he was so good with kids, then it all made sense when I saw him running a ‘popcorn challenge’ with 3 eight year olds and a four year old one day: my best friend was the biggest/oldest eight year old I’ve ever met.
I met Shaun in 9th grade in a study hall at Parkland High School, he turned and started talking to me, against the rules of the study hall teacher, and asked me to play dots with him to pass the time. (Dots is the game where you lay out a giant grid of dots on a piece of notebook paper and try to make the most boxes.) Since the first box was made on that piece of paper we instantly became and stayed best friends. After we had our licenses and our cars, we never missed a Black Friday together. We looked at Christmas lights all night until the stores opened up at 4 in the morning, and became one of my favorite traditions with my best friend. Christmas was a special time for him and I; I never missed a Christmas Eve over at his house. Through the course of our friendship him and I only had 1 major fight where we didn’t talk to each other for a whole half hour. The fight was about which beach we were going to take our friends to the following morning. The fight was epic. Needless to say Shaun and I had a close relationship.
The accident happens, Shaun passes away. In the blink of eye my best friend is gone. It wasn’t until the funeral that I realized the full extent of his life and the people he touched. In the comments people had made and things they had written I had come to the conclusion that Shaun had more best friends probably than anyone else in recorded history. I’d like to use the analogy of a wheel to illustrate this next point. A wheel is made up of a hub with radiating spokes, without one spoke, or the hub, the wheel will fail and cannot roll. Shaun IS the hub, and everyone that remembers him and all the lives he touched are the spokes. After his death I felt like the wheel would fail and stop rolling, since our hub was lost. But the opposite happened, the wheel kept rolling. My best friend made sure during his time with us that his spokes were as strong as could possibly be. And although he is not here physically to be the hub, all of us spokes that remember and honor him make his spirit strong. The wheel keeps rolling. Shaun keeps the wheel rolling.
As long as I live my life, I will never forget the good times, and life lessons my best friend has taught me. Although it’s hard to continue on without him, it’s important to do so and keep him with us in remembrance. By going non stop, and living our lives to the fullest, honors and validates everything he’s done, and everything he’s stood for. He led a complete, good life in his 23 years with us. He is greatly missed physically, but spiritually he still lives in all of us.
Shaun I miss you dearly, you were my best friend. I take great pride in being one of your spokes, and vow to keep your wheel spinning as long as I’m alive.
Your best friend,
-Bortz