This one's for you, Ryan...

So, Thursday morning started way too early for us...Kenny's cell phone rang at 5:20 am. The really weird thing is is that he already had the phone in his hand before it rang. It was Dave Walters. Is it not uncommon for Kenny to get calls from him since he is Kenny's boss but 5:20 is early even for him.
Unfortunately his call was not work related. He was called to be the clergy at an accident scene. He knew Kenny knew the victim pretty well. It was Ryan Shipp (29, our age). A guy Kenny had become friends with after we moved back to C-ville. When I heard Kenny say, What? I knew it wasn't good. When Kenny got off the phone he filled me in on what Dave had told him. Ryan was driving his motorcycle on 210 and had a pretty bad accident. EMT's took him to the hospital by ambulance (they tried to get the helicopter in to take him but they didn't have a good place to land). But his injuries were too great and he died. Silence and disbelief filled our bedroom. We were at such a loss and did not know what to do. Kenny waited a little bit and then tried to call a few friends who were also close to Ryan.
Ryan had been over to our house several times and ate meals with us either at our house or in the caf. He had been a student here at CU and would stop by Kenny's office between classes just to chat. Ryan loved to laugh and have fun. The kids liked him too and would always give him "5" when he would come over. We always knew when Ryan was here because he would drive his bike around to the front of our apartment and park on the sidewalk so we could always hear him pull up :o). Ryan always had a story to tell, of some adventure or or what not that had happened recently. He was just a fun guy.
The funeral was today.
I'm not sure why I felt the need to post this...I know most of you don't know Ryan but I guess I just wanted to do something in memory of Ryan.
Ryan, you will be missed by so many. You touched so many lives with your fun loving spirit and the charm of your genuine nature. Your death was a sudden tragedy, I hope and pray this is not the end and that we will see you again one day when our time on earth is done. I pray for God to bless and comfort your family as they grieve their loss.
So, this blog post is dedicated in Loving Memory to Ryan J. Shipp.
Okay,