My aunt Suzanne's sister Melinda sent this to my dad and I.

To my dearest family, some things Id like to say.
But first of all, to let you know, that I arrived okay.
I'm writing this from heaven.
Here I dwell with God above.
Here, theres no more tears of sadness;
Here is just eternal love.

Please do not be unhappy just because I'm out of sight.
Remember that I am with you every morning, noon and night.
That day I had to leave you when my life on earth was through.
God picked me up and hugged me and He said, I welcome you.
Its good to have you back again, you were missed while you were gone.
As for your dearest family, They'll be here later on.

I need you here so badly, you are part of my plan.
There is so much that we can do, to help our mortal man.
God gave me a list of things, that he wished for me to do.
And foremost on the list, was to watch and care for you.
And when you lie in bed at night the days chores put to flight.
God and I are closest to you....in the middle of the night.

When you think of my life on earth, and all those loving years.
Because you are only human, they are bound to bring you tears.
But do not be afraid to cry; it does relieve the pain.
Remember there would be no flowers, unless there was some rain.
I wish that I could tell you all that God has planned.
If I were to tell you, you wouldn't understand.

But one thing is for certain, though my life on earth is over.
I'm closer to you now, than I ever was before.
There are rocky roads ahead of you and many hills to climb;
But together we can do it by taking one day at a time.
It was always my philosophy and Id like it for you too;
That as you give unto the world, the world will give to you.

If you can help somebody who is in sorrow and pain;
Then you can say to God at night....My day was not in vain.
And now I am contented... that my life was worthwhile.
Knowing as I passed along the way I made somebody smile.
So if you meet somebody who is sad and feeling low;
Just lend a hand to pick them up, as on your way you go.

When you're walking down the street and you've got me on your mind;
I'm walking in your footsteps only half a step behind.
And when its time for you to go...from that body to be free.
Remember you're not going...you're coming here to me.

When I was a little kid (6-10 years old), I had a huge fascination with scary movies. Not the type you see today, but the classic/cheesy black and white B-horror movies from the 40s, 50s and 60s.

I remember spending a lot of time going through the mini TV guide magazine (remember those?) and finding the channel and time slots, and marking with my pen. One of the shows I somewhat recall is the Chilly Billy/Chiller Theater (http://chillertheatermemories.com/). A lot of times the movies I wanted to see ended up being at the extreme AM hours. Most parents would probably discourage their little kids seeing these movies, let alone getting up at 2AM to watch. On quite a few occasions I would sleep downstairs and set an alarm to wake up.

One time, probably when I was 9 or 10, something happened where the alarm didn't go off, and I was woken up by a tap on the shoulder. My mom had woken me up at 2:30AM and wanted to make sure I didn't miss my movie! I had forgotten about that and it just popped in my head today. What a seemingly simple thing, but pretty cool thing to do! I need to re-watch some of those movies

My mom always talked about Ryan O'Neal growing up.  He was one of her favorite actors, and loved the movies Love Story and Paper Moon.  In fact, she finally revealed she was originally going to name me Ryan instead of Eric!

A couple years ago I had the chance to attend an animal rescue related event in LA, the Genesis Awards.  We actually shared a limo with Ryan and spent the night hanging out with him.  At one point in the evening one of our friends David, after finding out how much my mom liked Ryan, decided to call her (probably 10:30 at night on the east coast), and promptly handed the phone to Ryan without giving him a heads up.

Ryan and my mom ended up chatting for like 20 minutes.  At first she thought it might have been a joke and wasn't sure it was Ryan.  And, then later mentioned how nervious she was at first.  But after a while she said Ryan was impressed with how much she knew about his movies and they had a great time chatting.  A few months later Ryan signed an autographed picture for her.

She talked about this for months and said it was one of her happiest moments!