Jaiden Tlapa

About a year ago, The Cabinet started covering a story of a little girl who was critically injured by falling off her deck and into a snowblower. Don't directly quote me on this, but I am fairly certain that's what happened. My co-worker and I both started following this story. At that point, we had a hand in putting the paper together, so we were able to read the newest story every week. Unfortunately, she lost the fight and died from her injuries. She was 8 years old.

Friday I was reminded of this horrible accident when, in my pile of ads, I discovered I had the memorial ad for her. Immediately I thought, Oh god... I HATE doing memorial ads because I am a ball of emotion all the time. The first one I had to do back in 2006 made me cry for at least 15 minutes after I typed it all out. It's strange, but this little girls ad felt almost personal to me. Even though I had never met her, or her family, I still felt some sort of connection. I wanted to make this ad beautiful, I wanted the family to look at it and think what a nice job that designer did... I wanted to somehow convey to that family that I was pulling for her too, and that I have them and her in my heart. It was a very simple message, stating that the family is still thinking of her and will love and miss her always. I couldn't make it look exactly how I wanted since it was a small ad, but I tried. The only thing they wanted in it was a dragonfly in flight. I found a cute cartoonish one, but I felt like I needed to do something more personal, so in the flight lines I created, 2 of them are conviently create the shape of a heart. It didn't turn out as I wanted it to, and I don't even know if they'll be able to tell, but I really hope they do.

I couldn't imagine how this family feels. The unimaginable loss, the hurt, the guilt. How do you ever heal from something like that? She was so young, so full of life, and it was all cut short by one accident. I don't know her, I don't know her family, but every time I hear her name or am reminded of this story I can't help but fight back tears. I wish that somehow there was something I could have done, though obviously there was nothing. I will probably never talk to this family, but if by some small chance they come across my blog I want them to know that my heart goes out to them. And that even though she might not be here in body, in spirit and memory Jaiden lives on forever.