My cousin Matt died last week and must now be in Neverland

My cousin Matt died last Saturday. He is the first in this generation of my family to pass away, and I have not been able to stop thinking about it all week.

I looked up to Matt when I was young. His mother and my mother shared a bond closer than any of my other four aunts and uncles and, consequently, I saw him and his brothers more often than my other cousins.

Matt was a few years older than me and always epitomized what it meant to be cool in my formative years. He had wonderful, shaggy locks of dark brown hair and an easy-going attitude.

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