The image above is of my friend Erin Brookman, who has passed away.

Erin Colleen Brookman, 9/3/1993-9/2/2007. Erin was one of my best friends and had a huge impact on my life, as well as others. Her death changed my life drastically and taught me never to take life for granted. Although i had only been friends with her for a couple years, she had one of the strongest influences on me.
It was my friend Melissa's birthday party in December of 2005, when I first met Erin. I felt like I knew her before I even met her, because I would hear so many stories of her from my friends. It didn't take long for us to start calling each other best friends. She had been such a great friend to everyone and probably one of the most kindhearted people you would ever meet. The fact that she always was putting her friends problems before hers was the main reason that made her such a kindhearted person. At one time in our friendship I had been struggling with a bunch of different things, without her support I probably wouldn't of been able to get through it all.
In October of 2006 Erin, her sister, and her mother had to move to Napa, because of many problems they were going through. After the move, nothing was really the same. I went from seeing her every few days to seeing her only a couple times a month. At first it was hard, but it soon got easier. Even if we weren't hanging out all the time, we still were talking to each other mostly everyday.
During Labor Day weekend of 2007, my family and I were camping at Lake Berryessa. It was the weekend of Erins 14th birthday. I had talked to her earlier in the week and she mentioned going with a few of her Napa friends to a lake, but she didn't mention what exact lake it was. I didn't realize she had gone to the same lake I had been at, until I had already been home for a night. Erin had passed away on September 2nd, 2007, the day shy of her 14th birthday. When her family and her friends were at the lake they were hanging out in their boat under a bridge where a lot of families park their boats to hangout and swim. No one knew, but the boats were realising out a lot of carbon dioxide, which caused Erins friend to start seizing and throw up in the water while they were all swimming. Of course the first thing you think to do, is to help out the person who needs it, and that is what everyone was doing. Her mom soon realized after the ambulance had came that she hadn't seen Erin around for quite some time. They were all worried about what could of happened to her and decided to call a search and rescue team to help them out. Unfortunately they had no luck finding her, until the morning of her birthday. It was September 3rd, when a man found her body washed up on shore. Erin had gone through the same thing her friend went through. She also inhaled a bunch of carbon dioxide, but know one had noticed because they were all paying attention and trying to help out her friend. That morning still haunts me, because I remember seeing and hearing the ambulance and not knowing they had been for my best friend.
Losing someone that is very close to you is such a terrible feeling in life and something no one deserves to go through. Getting through the lost of one of my best friends wasn't easy at all. It actually brought me and a few of my friends closer together, because we felt like no one else understood the pain we were going through at the time. I never go a day without thinking about her and what she would be like if she was still here today. There are still times when I will be thinking about her and just start crying. I am so thankful for having a chance to know such an amazing girl. The days we spent together will always be the greatest memories of my life.