Gone but not forgotten is how I see my brother D, someone who took my side and was always there for me. Through the good and the bad, the thick and the thin, I knew he would always be my brother until the end. Side by side from boys to young men, Exploring everything God gave us, the world and what’s within. We developed a friendship that was like no other, building a love, a love for my brother. But now my brother is gone and I have been sent out on my own, To face the world this reality set out all alone. I know you are gone now, I think about you each day, Wondering why God called you home and took you away. Away from this friendship, away from your friend, Who loved you so much and would ride until the end. Our journey has ended, but I still can’t let go, I loved you so much, so much you’ll never know. What you gave me was special, it will stay with me through the hard times which I know will get better, with your everyday guidance through life’s storms and rough weather. Gone but not forgotten is how I see my brother D, Now my guardian angel who is watching over me. Protecting me from wrong and leading me to right, Guiding me in death as he did so in life. Still keeping that love wrapped up deep within, Never letting go of my brother, my best friend. The love will remain until the day I die, until we can reunite our friendship, a friendship between you and I. For there will be a day when we will be together again, to share the bond we had, the bond of a friend. Love, John A true friend is a once in a lifetime experience. Many of you may not have experienced this yet, but I was one of the few, and very fortunate ones. I know God has blessed me with many friends in my life, but the greatest blessing I have ever received from my Father Jesus Christ is having the wonderful and very pleasurable experience of having such a loyal and honorable friend, Dustin Pion in my life. A person can say they have friends and close friends, but when a person is able to say he knows exactly what his friend is going to do and when he knows that this friend loves and cares for him like a brother or even a son and would do anything for them, than that is when you know you have had a friend like I have had. They say you don’t know what you have until it’s gone. In many cases today I think a lot of you are realizing that. I knew exactly what I had and on Thursday, June 13th at around 4:30pm just getting home from work I found out what I lost and along with it went half of my life and my best friend. I remember when Dustin and I would sit outside with my dad and his best friend and we would listen to all of the stories that they had acquired over the years including their childhood. I remember telling Dustin that this will be us in 20 or 30 years. He just looked at me with his always-confused look and said mmmmmmmmmK!! You know with every story my dad and his friend told Dustin and I matched it with about two other stories. We shared everything together and we had sooooo many good times. We even got our first driving ticket together back in May. Looks like we did pretty much of everything together. I’ll never forget everything you taught me and everything you turned me into. You are the main reason I am the person I am today, I thank you for that. I thank your parents for raising such a fine person that I can call my best friend for life. There will never be another, you are everything to me. I thank you and I love you and I will never forget you. John Most of you know me but for those of you who don’t my name is Tara. Most of you know my relationship with Dustin, but for those of you who don’t I dated Dustin. We had the strongest relationship. I’m here today just to remember Dustin not to say goodbye! Even though he is not here physically he will always be watching over us and in our hearts and minds. I know it’s hard because Dustin was a good son, brother, family member, and a friend but try not to look at his death as a tragedy but as a personal message to live each day at its fullest. My only wish was to say one more thing to Dustin so I wrote him this letter. Dustin, I don’t even know where to start! We have had soooo many memories together! These past couple days I have been thinking about every single one of them. Like on Christmas Eve we were driving around in your dad’s truck with Amy singing the Ford song because the radio didn’t work and you had to have some type of music. All the days Amy, Aaron, Jen, John, you, and I went to my house after school and on the weekends just to chill. Jen, Amy and I trying to pack all of us in your 2-seater. Us at my grandparent’s house during Christmas and Easter. Watching you at your matches…..(I only missed one babe). Sitting through those Longgggg tournaments. Eating dinner at your house with you and your parents. You always coming over just to talk to my mom. You always eating up all the peanut butter cookies and brownies right after my mom made them (but don’t worry you know they were for you anyways). When you went with me and my family to the zoo. You never let me forget exactly why we went to the zoo, because my 2-year-old cousin wanted to see the elephant poop. You never stopped laughing about that! I’m sure your mom and dad will never forget us being on the phone late late at night, as your mom use to say just listening to each other breathe! And I will never forget the date December 1, 2002!!!!! I could go on forever! But what I really want you to know is that even though we went through that real rough time I NEVER STOPPED CARING!! You were truly the best boyfriend a girl could ask for. But I guess everything happens for a reason. I will never forget you or the times we shared together. And I still have one thing to say that I’ve wanted to say for the longest time but never had the courage to say it….DUSTIN I STILL AND ALWAYS WILL LOVE YOU !!!!!! Dear Dustin Sean Pion, Hey wuz up brother? How is life now for you? I hope good because you are in the hands of the greatest man ever. Well we all miss you a lot and more than ever and John and I will keep you in our prayers forever and always. Hey guess what, I just went through some papers and saw what we we were going to name our car club, “Illusive Imports”. Well I think John and I have decided to change that and make it “DSP motor sports”. (You figure it out) Anyway I would like to start by telling you a few things that I may never have told you. I love you. You are the greatest best friend one can ever have and I would like to thank-you for giving me that. I will never be able to forget you and I hope you will always look out for me. Sometimes I think that you are trying to tell me something but I can’t always quite figure it out so please try to help me. Remember my goal for this upcoming football season, well I didn’t think I can do it but with you up they’re looking after me, anything’s possible. If I ever seem to do anything ridiculously stupid please give me a few smacks in the face like you use to. Man I can’t seem to get over how much I will miss you. You are one of the greatest people in my life and the only brother I have and now that your not here with me I don’t know what to do anymore. I feel as though half of my life is in a total different world than I’m in. I will always remember the times you and I shared some good and some bad but more good than anything. Just being around you and being your best friend makes me happier than anything else that makes me happy. Trying to imagine how it’s going to be without you here is the worst thing ever. I think that you will always be driving beside me on the highway when we have our little Sunday drives with the car club. Hopefully you will be guiding over us. Well I would like to conclude by telling you that I love you and I will always be thinking of you. Peace out, Love always, your brother Aaron For those of you who don’t know me my name is Amy. Dustin was one of my best friends. Many people loved him, and my heart goes out to everyone affected by this tragic event. You always see things on the news about people being in accidents that you don’t even know. And you feel for their family and friends. But you never expect it to happen to someone you care so much about. This accident was a reality check to me. Anything can happen so don’t ever take things in your life for granted. We have to keep strong and go through each day as we normally would. Let’s remember Dustin with happiness and not sadness because we all know that’s what he would want. I wanted to say a few last things to Dustin so I write this letter. Dear Dustin, Hey sweetie. I can’t believe this happened it just isn’t fair. I was just with you in Baskin Robbins drinking a chocolate blast remember, I still owe you $2. I’m still trying to grasp the fact that you’re gone. It just seems like a terrible dream I can’t wake up out of. You didn’t deserve this to happen to you. You had so much going for you. I know I’ve told you this before but you were like a big brother to me. Especially during the time with you know who, and you always telling me not to worry and I deserve better. I never told you but I really appreciated that. You were always willing to help no question asked. Even when you were upset you still had a smile on your face. How ya did it I’ll never know. I’ll never forget all the memories and good times we shared together. They will stick with me for the rest of my life. Starting with the first time we met. It was lunch my freshman year. Do you remember? Oh and who could forget Summer 2001, going over John’s house almost every night. The game of pool you, Aaron, Kristin, and me never finished, and the late night phone calls. That morning we went to Burger King before school. I learned so much about you that day. Then there’s Christmas Eve when you and Tara came and picked me up and we drove around looking at lights singing the Ford song because the truck had no radio. Oh, and the non-alcoholic beer you and John bought. I remember your exact words. Amy drink this it tastes good. Dustin that stuff was so gross. I knew everyday after 9th period I would have to push you away from my locker because you wouldn’t let me open it. Just like you always playing around. I was always fighting with you, and always losing because you would use your stupid wrestling moves. I told you that’s not fair fighting. Oh man and the talks we had that day in Audiotech with Tara and Aaron. Remember that one day something got disconnected with your amp and you pulled over on the side of the road and you were so determined to fix it because there was no way you were going to drive home without loud music. I won’t forget that confused look you always seemed to have on your face. Dustin did you ever know what was going on? But the thing I will remember the most is you always kept it real. You were honestly a true friend, and I thank you for that because people like that are hard to find. We have so many more memories, but there isn’t enough time or paper to write them all. It’s time to end this letter. Dustin I love you and will miss you dearly. I know no matter where I go you will be there right beside me and I think that’s what’s helped me through the past couple of days. Even though you may not be here physically you will always be here. Your girl, Amy I went to the window to look for some memories we had, but this street looks so different, something’s missing, so sad. So many times I’d see him walking up, and greeting him at the front door, A great big smile across his face, is John home? And they left to go explore. From childhood to teens they grew side by side, their hearts growing closer as true friends do, while they walk life’s stride. Always there for one another, no matter the reason, sharing each others thoughts and dreams throughout each passing season. Growing up so fast, time just seems to slip away, Weren’t they just wrestling in the ocean yesterday? I loved him as a son, although I never told him so, sometimes you don’t know how much someone means to you until it’s their time to go. Thank God for the wonderful memories that keep us company as we continue our walk, with Dustin etched upon our hearts and minds forever in our thoughts. It was a privilege and a pleasure to know him and I’m thankful he was a part of my life. I’ll miss him so. Big John (John Clark’s dad) Dear Family and Friends of Dustin Sean Pion, Well it’s been 5 days now since we all have lost our loved one and 9 days since I last talked to him and saw him. I loved Dustin more than words will ever explain. We shared almost everything together and he was one of the most loyal and true friends that I will probably ever have. I will never forget all the times we shared good and bad and all of the trouble we got in together, especially the three of us (Dustin, John, and myself). We practically did everything together from riding dirt bikes, to going on vacations with each other to sharing secrets. I mean everything. Now when I wake up in the morning it really hurts to know that I won’t be able to get a laugh out of something crazy Dustin will do today. He would always make everyone laugh and smile even if you were feeling at your worst. When you saw Dustin you couldn’t help but crack a smile because he would always make a face or say something to make you smile. I will never forget when he would do his little eye thing where one eye was facing one way and the other crazy eye was facing the opposite way. He was one crazy character. I remember when I went to Michigan with Dustin and his parents to visit his family and we had so much fun. Especially when we rode the go-carts with Grandpa Ralph. I had so much fun with Dustin and his family on our vacation in Michigan. It seems like you don’t really know what true friend is until the persons gone. I will miss Dustin more than I have ever missed anyone else in my life. We had so many plans and things that we wanted to do in life as well as this summer. Dustin and I wanted to get matching motorcycles and start our little car club “Illusive Imports” and all kinds of things. The best way I can describe Dustin is that he was a very loved and unforgettable person. He got a long with everyone and everyone got along with him. I never in my life heard anyone say anything negative about Dustin because he was the nicest person you will ever meet. If Dustin was down to his last dollar and you needed it, he would give it to you just because that’s the kind of person he was. There have been times when Dustin basically bent over backwards just to do me a favor. I sit back and sometimes wonder what life is going to be like for me without my best friend here. I do know that he will always be looking after me while he’s up there, so I would like to let all of Dustin’s family and friends know that he is still here with us and he loves each and everyone of us. He wants us to keep our heads high and stay strong. Mr. and Mrs. Larry Pion I love you guys and I pray that our love and friendship will help you get through this. Love Always, Aaron Derelle Stanford Midi Selection: One Sweet Day