Last week, my cousin Amanda Jean Wagner Gunter was in a car accident, and she didn’t survive. I didn’t grow up with my cousin, but I still feel this incredible loss to our family. I’ve always felt a bond with my cousins. With Amanda, it was particularly strong because she was the oldest of all of my other cousins. She and her sister Ellen were around before anybody else showed up, and we would play together when my family went to visit. As we’ve gotten older, Amanda and I have communicated via e-mail about family history.
It may be trivial to mention, but I will anyway. Amanda was a great example in many ways. In fact, one reason I’ve started a blog was partly because of her. Her blog, http://gunterfullife.blogspot.com/ showed everybody how much she loved life. I wanted to show that too. The template I’m using in my blog comes from the same company Amanda used. Unbeknownst to me, Amanda was in the car accident while I was writing my first blog entry last week. It makes me sad to know exactly what I was doing at the time of the accident, an event that will change so many people’s lives.
Amanda was a responsible and smart girl who lived her life to the fullest. She was so beautiful. She had the cutest dimples and the sweetest and calmest personality. She was a talented and wonderful person through and through who has touched many lives for good. Now that she’s gone, there is an enormous hole in our family chain. I’m praying constantly for her family. I’m praying especially for her husband Levin and their little girl Ansley. All of us in the family know that we will see Amanda again. There is hope and peace in that.
I'm really sorry about the loss of your cousin Amanda. What a sad tragedy. But like you say there is hope because of the gospel.
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