My life will forever be changed by a sweet smiley faced boy. I got to see him every Tuesday at Roosevelt Elementary. My daughter, Vivianna's in 1st grade and I'm lucky to help each week. It's always so fun to see all the children's happy faces when I arrive and they always come and ask me to help them. Dylan would always come and ask me to help him and he was my little buddy. I'll forever be thankful that I got to sit with Dylan, on March 9th, and help him with his work. We were alone for a good 10 minutes while the other kids were on the rug. He even showed me the shark he made. I never knew that would be the last time I would ever see him. On one walking field trip, Dylan was in my group and I'm a huggy person, so I told Dylan you have to let me hug you and pretend you're my little boy because I have girls. I'll always remember you and every Tuesday won't ever be the same because your smiley face will be missing!! Thank You God for giving me the opportunity to know such a sweet boy named Dylan Best. 

Dear Kristin & family, I heard about Dylan from a mutual friend of your neighbor, Kristin Martin. I am writing to you with tears running down my face after reading the beautiful sentiments written about your angel, Dylan, and after seeing photos of his smiling face. I can only say that he is with the angels and God who have looked after him for his seven years on this Earth and he will be your angel looking after you, your daughters, his father, and family from Heaven. May God bless you and may your friends and loved ones help ease your pain right now. With sincere condolences.

Kristen,

 

Words can not express how sorry I am for the loss of your little angel.  Please know that my thoughts and prayers are with you and the kids.  I wish there was something I could do to help you through this difficult time...  I'm here if you need to talk. 

Kristin I didn't know dylan but I can tell by all his beautiful pictures that he was a very special boy.  like the angels he had following him you now have your own special angel.  You know how much we love you!  He will forever be in your heart..

xxoo
Tracy

I did not know Dylan but heard about what had happened on Facebook from a friend of Kristin's and my heart just broke for the family.  I really believe all things happen for a reason and this was gods plan, although for us here on earth it is hard to understand.  I pray for your family Kristin and may god comfort your heart each and every day, your son is now an angel in heaven and watching his family from above.   In everything you do he will be there with you, have faith.   God bless Dylan and his entire family.      

 

 Lori Heischuber

 Saugus, California

 

 

I cannot imagine the sorrow you and your Family feel, words cannot describe how heavy our hearts have become in finding out what happened to your beautiful angel.

Please know that you are all in our prayers and our hearts.  We are so very sorry.

 

Jenni Cohen

Canyon Country, CA

"I'll lend you for a little time a child of mine", He said. For you to love- while he lives, and mourn for when he's dead.
It may be six or seven years, or twenty two or three, But will you, till I call him back, take care of him for Me?
I cannot promise he will stay, since all from earth return, but there are lessons taught down there I want this child to learn
I've looked this world over in search of teachers true, and from the throngs that crowd life's lanes, I have selected you
Now will you give him all your love, nor count the labor vain, nor hate Me when I come to call to take him back again?
But should the angels call for him much sooner than we've planned, we'll brave the bitter grief that comes and try to understand.

Kristin, this seems to be written expressly for Dylan, that sweet angel who obviously had a higher purpose. I love you, Alyssa and Ashley, please know you are all in my prayers and thoughts daily.

I am Kristin Martin's cousin. I don't know the family and I didn't know Dylan. But my heart has been aching with this story since my cousin shared it on Facebook. And I have also been very marked how amazing the community support has been in reaction to this tragedy. It sounds like Dylan was larger than life while alive – and that seems to be true in even now. I am sending my thoughts and prayers as well as those of my entire family from London, from Paris, from Colorado... and from my step-daughter in South America. There is a saying by a well-known French author that says "un être vous manque et tout est dépeuplé" : Only one person is missing and the whole world is empty.
May you be blessed with healing and the gift of living life to its fullest that Dylan seemed to embody so wholeheartedly. All best, Hosanna (and Family)

My son Cameron was in the same class with Dylan in Kindergarten at Roosevelt.  Cameron has talked about him quite often and considers him to be a good friend. Although they are not in the same class in First Grade, he often played with him at recess and saw each other on school grounds all the time. Cameron will miss his dear friend and playmate. Our prayers for you all.

 

Joanne, Charles and Cameron Dalrymple

 

When I spoke at Dylan's memorial, I read this.  I wanted to share it w/Kris so she could read it later.

Kristin and I have so much in common as friends…we share the same name, we both have twins, the list goes on…but most importantly…Dylan was my one of my daughter Sydney’s best friends.  Kristin and I live across the street from each other and share many of life’s moments together every single day.

When someone is in your life that much, you get closer than you can imagine doing special things sometimes, but often just the mundane things in life that you do w/ your kids each and every day.

 

Our kids run back and forth and we have an open door policy, so you constantly hear kids laughing, playing, arguing,…just living.  Our kids eat meals together, do homework together, dance and listen to music videos together.

My point…we so often take it all for granted as life just happens around us.  You don’t usually even think about it, until something big happens in life to change that….this past week, Dylan made us all realize that the little, mundane things are important.

 

As I came home last week, I heard Ashely and Dylan yelling out the window at us…this was not unusual.

“Hi Kristin…what are you doing?”  I looked up and said, “just getting home sweetie”.  How are you?...Good Ash replied….

I heard children’s voices and again, just took it for granted, as it was something that happened every single day.

Little did I know, that it would be the last time I heard THAT little angels voice.

It made me realize that the term “life can change in a second”…really can change in a second.. and how important that is.  All of those cliché sayings…really do mean so much.

 

I know that Dylan was meant to be somewhere else… smiling with that huge grin that never left his face…,. His purpose,  IS somewhere else.

In his short 7 years, he face quite a few obstacles… he had a stroke in vitro…and health scares at birth…and he made it through…, he broke his foot after the family dog Rudy stepped on it…, made it through it,…. he cut his face open and had 6 stiches which gave him that beautiful scar on his face…. and made it through.  He even made it through what should have been simple tonsil  surgery 2 years ago where he died for minutes, only to come back to life…and made it through.  In hindsight, I truly believe that happened for a reason….  Days later after his surgery, he looked at Kristin and said mommy, what are those things..ya know with beautiful faces and they are all white…you know.. that have wings and look like butterflies?  What are they?  She said are you talking about angels?  He said, yes…,Mom, I saw them during my surgery…at the time, Kris did not know what to make of it, but was blown away that her 5 year old would say something so powerful without ever knowing what an angel was.….. but today, she can take comfort in knowing that was his way of saying “I am ok”.  It was a way to let US ALL know, he is in a place of peace and comfort and with God.

It was God’s way of letting us all know…he is ok.

His purpose is just greater than and of us can understand.

I will miss him telling me that my car is such a mess every day on the way to school.  It was so funny and the apple does not fall far from the tree, since his mom is the exact same way. 

I will also miss looking at his sister Alyssa wondering why we are all piled in the car after school and D was never anywhere to be found.  He was always running around playing.  I had to ask her every day to go get him. That was his spirit.

 

I think Dylan has taught so many, that no matter how short any of us on this earth for, take nothing for granted, embrace every second and thank God daily for your blessings…I am astounded how this boy has impacted so many people…people who know him and people who don’t, people who live near and people who live half way around the world… it has affected so many…and how they see life.  I believe that those angels he saw will be there w/ open arms to embrace each and every one of us and just allow us to take comfort in the fact that there is something beautiful after our time on this earth.

 

God bless you D we will keep your spirit alive and we will all see you again…hit a homerun up there for us…we will be cheering!