I got some very bad news tonight. Megan, my daughter Lana's, best friend and a kid I always considered to be like a daughter to me died quietly tonight after a long battle with leukemia. Apparently she got a lung infection and that's what did it.

Megan joined my daughters and my nephew in an 8 year game of Dungeons and Dragons. We started the game when they were 12 years old and kept it going through blizzards and summer heat. Late nights were spent around the table battling all the monsters the DM could throw at us. As we fought she created tiny origamis and drew fantasy scenes with the grease pencil. When she was diagnosed with leukemia the rest of us pitched in to buy her something to help her spirits. Not for us a bunch of flowers that would wilt and die. We bought her a sword.

But she has finished that last big fight and now journeys on to another land that may wait for all of us. This is why we humans believe in an afterlife. It isn't just for us. We want to believe that our loved ones are in a better place.

Megan, Fare well in your journey. You fought a brave battle. Rest now before you meet the road and again sally forth into adventure.