On December 31st, 1980, 20 minutes before the new year, the McKay family was blessed with a heathy baby boy. They named their beautiful second son Joseph Kevin McKay.

This boy's life was served to him on a silver plater. He was rich in good looks, talents and charm. He was always surrounded by a bunch of friends, and he seemed to always smile his 1,000 watt smile everyday.

His parents loved him dearly and he returned their love as any son would. He blew people away with his basketball skills, and stole hearts when he sang (which he didn't do often enough). Give him a broken electronic and he would sit for hours and days trying to fix it. He won't give up until it was fixed, or he got too bored. Like all boys, Joseph had always loved getting into trouble. Getting out of it was the part he hated. His many friends were always there to lend a helping hand and pull him out of the sticky jams he seemed to have a knack on getting into.

One day the world stopped turning for a moment in time. The sky turned grey as the sun seemed to stop shinning the minute a drunk driver steered his van into a car. A car Joseph and his older brother, Don where in. September 1994 the McKay brothers blacked out together.

At the hospital, the drunk driver left with a few stiches. Leaving as quickly as he came. Don stayed in a hospital bed for a week. As for Joseph; he laid in intensive care under the dead sleep of a coma.

Joseph laid pale, with a badly beaten and swollen body in a cold hospital bed. Life support was the only thing keeping him alive. The awful machines by his side, the ones pumping oxygen into his lungs, measuring brain waves and beeping out his heart beat were scary, yet reassuring.

As two months pasted, hope was dropping. Nobody thought they'd see his beautiful smile again. Then, as suddenly as the crash had been, Joseph began breathing on his own in December, after almost three months of life support. Everyone couldn't believe it. Everyone's hope was lifted. It seemed as though a light had been turned on. Doctors announced Joseph would never walk again during this month, but it didn't matter very much. As long as he was alive, nothing mattered much.

On December 31st, 1994, the McKay family spent the day in Joseph's hospital room. It was his birthday and the last day of the year. They wanted to be with him. 20 minutes before the new year, Joseph turned 14 years old. His mother kissed his pale cheek and whispered a birthday wish into his ear, not knowing whether or not he heard her. 15 minutes before the new year, the steady beeping that filled the room was replaced by a single, high pitched note. A note that didn't stop sounding until unhooked from Joseph's body.

On December 31st, 1994, on his birthday, Heaven's angels had finally come for Joseph.

Tough many cried for a long time after his death, we now all smile at his memory. I know he's in Heaven with God and His angels. I know he's smiles down on me every day. Knowing this is what keeps me alive. Knowing my angel is with me in my heart makes me smile. Knowing some day we'll be together again, some day together in Heaven, lifts my spirit high.

I'll never forget you, Joseph Kevin McKay. Your memory will live on forever in my heart. Never stop smiling down on me and never stop loving me, ‘cause God knows I won't stop smiling up at you, or ever stop loving you. Or has God told you that already?