My Heart Hurts- RIP Kidd Kraddick

I don't usually post on the weekend, but my heart is feeling particularly heavy today. My fellow Texans might have already heard the news, but it was announced yesterday that Kidd Kraddick from the 106.1 Kiss FM morning show passed away. He was only 53 years old, one year older than my parents. The cause of death hasn't been released yet. 

I never thought I was the type of person who would be so strongly affected by the death of a celebrity, if you consider him one. I actually had heard the news several hours before it broke. LT. Hub's brother knew Kidd in a very round-about way, and heard through a friend. We were all hoping that it was a hoax, a really bad prank. We didn't want to believe that this man whose voice we've heard almost every morning for the last 21 years could be gone.

The Kidd Kraddick show may not be everyone's taste, but nobody could deny the good he did in the world during his time here. Not only did he have the ability to make people laugh to the point of tears (I've almost had to pull over my car on some days) but through his foundation Kidd's Kids, an incredible charity he founded which sends terminally ill children and their families to Disney World.

The most bizarre part of this is the timing. Not only was he so young, but just this past week the entire Kidd Kraddick show did a humor bit called "Deathbed Confessions."Only days ago he was laughing at the idea of his own death. It literally gives me chills to hear him saying his goodbyes to his friends. 

My friends and I have all been speculating on how this will play out. Can the show really go on? While each member of the cast brings something special to the table, Kidd was the center of it all, the driving force. It is so evident how much each cast member loves each other, that they are a family. Will they want to continue? If they do, it will never be the same. I know it won't for me.

At the risk of sounding overly dramatic, I truly feel like I've lost a friend. My thoughts and prayers are with those closest to him. The world has lost an incredible individual, and there will definitely be a lot less laughter in my mornings.

RIP, Kidd Kraddick. You will be missed very much.

Much love to ya,