Tribute to the Princess

A sadness touched our hearts this weekend. Our beautiful princess Brittea, left this earth in the early morning hours of Saturday, December 20. The phone call from Chandra asking us to pray for a miracle seemed like a bad dream. We did pray for a miracle, but the miracle we were praying for was not granted. We already had our miracle; we got to know one of the purest souls that our Heavenly Father sent to this earth. We've shed a lot of tears this weekend, so sad for the days that we will not be able to see her in this life, but so grateful for the time we had.


You know how important Brittea was to our family. She impacted our life in such a wonderful way. Her unconditional love and bright smile are a treasure that we will carry in our hearts always. She impacted the lives of each of us, made us more caring and loving, she affected Breanne's career choice, she made us more considerate to others, she showed us how to be delighted in everything, and that you can be as happy just by watching other people.


Logan has been so sad. Last night at 3:00 a.m., I felt a tap on my shoulder. With tears rolling down his cheeks, he asked if I could help him. I asked what he was doing, and he was writing a poem for Brittea. He doesn't really want me to share it, so I hope he won't be too mad at me. It is so beautiful and it is from his heart.



My Hero


My hero had a special smile
My hero touched everyone she knew
My hero had great style
My hero wore Jensen blue
My hero was a fighter
My hero helped me grow
My hero made our life brighter
More than you will ever know

My hero is Brittea Hirschi
Who we will miss so dear
My hero's in a better place
But memories will keep us near


My love for you is so great
That no one can replace
You'll always be my little princess
Brittea, I love you


*****************************


Logan and Brittea had a special relationship. She loved him so much, and he could always make her laugh. She has not felt well for a while, and when they came to Utah last week, she was pretty serious all the time. The last time she smiled was last week when she was at our house, and she smiled for Logan. There were times when she was in the hospital, and Chandra would call Logan and ask him to talk to Brittea because sometimes all that Brittea needed was to hear his voice.



Breanne loves Brittea like a sister. She started tending Brittea when Brittea was 18 months old. Brittea loved to shop, and Chandra says that comes from all the time that she spent with Bre. Until the last couple of summers, Breanne spent almost every summer tending Brittea. Brittea loved to watch Breanne practice her cheers. Once Breanne could drive, she took Brittea with her when she needed to run errands, and I'm sure a few trips to the mall were involved.




KC also loved Brittea very much. I remember when he was about 16 years old, he was tending her. He was laying on the floor and rolling her wheel chair over him and she would laugh and laugh. He makes funny noises and funny voices and she loved it when he would talk funny and make funny noises. When KC was a senior, he ran for Homecoming royalty. In one of the assemblies, they had to have an escort and he asked Brittea to be his escort. Chandra dressed her in a fancy dress and KC carried her on the stage. She stole everyone's heart.



Our family enjoys camping and we invited Chandra to come with us when Brittea was still pretty small. Chandra was nervous about being far from a hospital in case there was an emergency, but she decided to try it. Brittea had so much fun coloring and hunting for eggs with my nephews. Then Matt and Chandra bought a trailer so they could camp with us. We have some great memories of the fun time we had together in Arches before they moved to Texas.






I probably should explain the "Jensen Blue" in Logan's poem. Apparently, when buying gifts for Brittea, I got in to a pattern where I would buy things that were blue. Matt is the one that noticed it, and dubbed it "Jensen Blue." Once our purchasing pattern had an official label, we had to keep up the tradition and so we've tried to include something blue in most of her gifts. I had the awesome privilege of going shopping for one last dress for Brittea. Kenny, Breanne and I picked out a dress for her to wear. Red is her favorite color and we found a beautiful red dress that Brittea would love. But she needs to have some Jensen Blue, so Breanne made her a beautiful bracelet and included blue beads so she can always wear some Jensen Blue.




I wish I had the words to adequately say what is in my heart. Mostly, I just want to tell Brittea how much I love her. How grateful I am that I was lucky enough to be with her, to spend time with her, to watch her grow and to watch how she made others grow.




I love you Princess. Give Maia a big hug before she comes down to this earth, and make sure you tell her about us. I can't wait to see you again and listen to all the stories that you have to tell. I'll save lots of butterfly kisses for when I see you again.