I’m No Stranger to the Rain

This song was chosen for Crystal’s funeral by our older brother, Dane, and I think his choice tells an important part of Crystal’s story.

One thing we are not trying to do with Watch Crystal’s Story is portray Crystal as perfect. She wasn’t. None of us are.

Crystal had struggles. She had difficult seasons. She made mistakes. She experienced heartbreak, disappointment, and challenges that were very real. There were times when life was incredibly hard for her. Those things are part of her story, too, and loving Crystal does not require us to erase them.

That is part of what makes “I’m No Stranger to the Rain” such a fitting song for her.

Dane didn't choose a song that painted his little sister as someone who had lived a perfect, untouched life. He chose one that spoke to weathering storms and continuing through them. And that feels much more like the Crystal we actually knew.

As these photographs played at her funeral, they showed different seasons of her life—the happy ones, the ordinary ones, and pieces of a woman whose story was far more complicated than any single description could capture.

That distinction is especially important now.

As we tell Crystal's story and raise questions about the investigation into her death, acknowledging that Crystal struggled at different points in her life does not diminish the questions that deserve to be asked about how her death was investigated.

Both things can be true.

Crystal could have experienced difficult periods in her life, and her death could still deserve a complete, objective and evidence-based investigation.

We don't need to rewrite Crystal's life to advocate for her.

We don't need to make her flawless to say that she mattered.

And we certainly don't need to pretend the rain never came.

It did.

But Crystal was so much more than her hardest days.

She laughed. She loved. She raised her children. She showed up for people. She frustrated us sometimes. She made us laugh until we couldn't breathe. She fought battles that weren't always visible to everyone around her. And she kept going through storms that could have knocked anyone down.

That's the woman Dane knew when he chose this song for his little sister.

And that's the woman we want you to know, too.

Not a perfect version of Crystal.

The real Crystal.

Because a person's life does not have to be perfect for their death to deserve a thorough investigation.

And a person does not have to be perfect to be deeply, completely, and forever loved.