5 years. 5 lessons.

Today marks the five year anniversay of my brother Stephen's death. Wow. Hard enough to believe it ever happened. Now, it is even harder to believe that it has been five years. To those of you who knew Stephen, you all know how blessed you are to have known him. He truly made the world a better place, and he always put a smile on the face of anyone he ever met. If you knew him, I am obviously not telling you anything you didn't already know. If you didn't know Stephen, I hope you are lucky enough to meet someone in this world like him.

Stephen's outlook on life and his personality taught me many things. I also think many others learned from him as well. Among these many lessons, I will share five of my favorite with you. These are the important things that everyone should know if they don't already. Unfortunately, it takes losing something to really recognize the lessons that were being taught.

5.) Laughter makes everything better. Stephen laughed at everything, and usually in a good way. He always joked around, giggled, chuckled, snickered. This is something I have no problem doing. I laugh at so many things, and my sweet niece Abigail is the same. As Stephen believed and practiced, laughter truly makes everything better. So laugh!

4.) Seize the day. Take advantage of every opportunity you are given. Afterall, some opportunities only come around once. Do the things you love, even if you think you don't have time. Make time.

3.) Let loyalty be one of your defining characteristics. Stephen was always loyal. He would never say something he didn't mean or make a promise he couldn't stick to. He was such a role model in this aspect.

2.) Friendship makes the world go around. Stephen was friends with EVERYONE. Let's just say he never met a stranger. He never judged, and he always saw the good in people, which is definitely something I try to do.

1.) Live your life for you. Sometimes it is so easy to please others all the time in scarificing your happiness for others to be happy. Stephen struggled with this. He seemed to always want to please others, even though he knew he should do some things for himself. Because this was something Stephen struggled with, I try hard to do it. I fail at this often, but I still do try...for Stephen.