5 months since your light left us. Since I last heard your voice, your laugh, saw the light in your eyes, felt your hand in mine, heard you say I love you. Nothing prepares you for your person of 28 years being here one moment and gone the next. Life imploded and crumbled in an instant and left me trying to figure out the shattered pieces of a life we built together, by myself. I refuse to let your legacy include the fact it destroyed me, so I move forward with the greatest love I’ve know and the greatest grief I’ve felt and will honor you by being the best of who you were. That is my promise.
I am so lucky to have someone love me like Ryan did and I only wish you all get to experience love like that. ❤️
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I shared this with Summer and asked her to share this message from my heart at Ryan's Celebration of Life on Saturday. I am still in denial that he is no longer in our lives.
Ryan was truly one of a kind. He had such an incredible zest for life and was so charismatic. He was the coolest guy that I ever met. It was such a pleasure to work with him, to know him, and to call him my friend. When I switched back to a Support Tech role, he was so encouraging and supportive. I'm so grateful for having him in my life. I will miss him always.
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2020, Lake Tahoe, United States
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2019, Havasupai Indian Reservation, Havasupai, AZ, USA
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2023, Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre, West Alameda Parkway, Morrison, CO, USA
Billy Strings at Red Rocks
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2019, Gorge Amphitheatre Campground, Road 1 Northwest, Quincy, WA, USA
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Bub was my first best friend. We terrorized our neighborhood and loved every minute of it. I don't know how many times the old man next door had to chase us out of his yard. We spent many hours singing songs in the cherry tree, whirlpools in the pool, memorizing movies, torturing my younger sister, etc. But, one of the absolute funniest memories I have with him is when I was probably 9ish, Bub 7ish, and we found a nudey magazine in the neighbors field and after looking through it got so freaked out we ran to the fence line and tossed it over onto the hood of someone's car next door. Imagine their surprise!? 🤣 Bub left this world far too soon, but his memories will live on forever. 💕
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My freshman year in highs school, my girlfriend and I had dates to snowball who last minute canceled on us. We were devastated to say the least. But two heros saved the night, Ryan and his best buddy Sean went and rented a tux and took my friend and I to dinner and the dance! They showed up for us and killed it on the dance floor. A memory I will never forget!
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It’s still hard to believe this is real. Johnston family, I am so sorry for your loss, and I know Bub will live on through the many lives he’s touched. All of my childhood memories involve Bub. We were regular 80’s latchkey kids and we RAN the Morningside neighborhood. When we first moved in across the street from the Johnston fam (we were the Johnson fam), Bub was little. He would come over early in the morning, walk in our house, yelling for “Hoddie and Hodda” (Holley and Sarah). Our adventures included searching under couch pillows at both houses for change to buy candy at the neighborhood gas station, befriending elderly neighbors who would feed us and give us trinkets (Sarah and Laura, remember Andy’s rocks and Ollie’s smooth, perfect for skating driveway?), breaking into houses (Barry, Matthew, some guy on Salishan), building elaborate forts, playing kick-the-can til way past dark, making whirlpools in the backyard pool, filling the living room floor with pillows so we could do flips off the mantle, riding Dolly like a horse (poor dog). Mom and Patti, thanks for letting us be free range kids… it was a blast… and I will cherish these memories always.
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Uncle bub really has a special place in my heart. I wasn't as close to him as I wish I could've been but I do cherish a skill he taught me and I will hopefully be able to pass on to my boys.
For a while, uncle bub was teaching me how to play guitar. I saw how amazing being able to play guitar was to Uncle bub and wanted to do the same.
I remember a specific time when he was teaching me basic chords and my hands were too small to reach and play the G chord the correct way, so he taught me the "easy way" with just one finger. I played it this way for years.
It wasn't until recently when I picked up my guitar again after a while of it sitting, when I tried to play the G chord the correct way, and I was actually able to. It was very bittersweet and I'd like to remember playing the G chord this way for a long time.
My heart goes out to my family in missing this beautiful human being, he was so loved and such a genuine person. We all love and miss you Uncle Bub, I just know he is playing some killer music wherever he is.
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