My Sister, My Friend

This video was created for Crystal’s funeral and played as our family gathered to say goodbye. I chose Reba McEntire’s “My Sister, My Friend” because those words described what Crystal was to me long before I ever imagined having to describe who she was after she was gone.

Crystal was ten years older than me, and she was so much more than simply my sister. She was part big sister, part second mom, and always my best friend. She was also a daughter, a sister to Dane and Josh, a mother, an aunt, and a friend whose life touched far more people than any investigative report could ever show.

When people hear Crystal’s name today, they may first hear about the questions surrounding her death or my fight for accountability. But I never want the circumstances of how she died to overshadow how she lived or who she was.

That is why this video belongs here.

Before the records. Before the unanswered questions. Before Demand the Standard.

There was Crystal.

A woman who laughed, loved, raised her children, loved her family, made memories with us, and left behind people whose lives will never be quite the same without her.

I chose this song for my sister then.

I would choose it for her all over again today.

Love made me her sister. Loss made me her voice.