Travis and Michelle Fitzgerald's blog

My cousin, Jeff Cecil, passed away this weekend. He and I were 3 weeks apart in age, and we were very close growing up. I had lost touch with him since high school, even though we both attended UT at the same time. We just didn’t hang out in the same crowds.

My favorite memory of Jeff is a repeating one. Every time Shanda and I would go up to Dallas to visit, Jeff and I would break out his large bin of Legos, and start building. It wouldn’t take us long to get the floor of his room completely covered in Legos (he had a lot of them!). We would build entire cities, or we would build giant spaceships, or a large fleet of airplanes. We had a great time. Of course, Shanda wasn’t into the Lego thing, so she would try to get us to play some game she liked, but inevitably, we would be back to playing Legos.

He was also a huge Star Wars fan when we were little. He had all the coolest Star Wars toys (I was jealous), and so we would also play with those.

I will miss him greatly, even though I haven’t seen or talked to him since his wedding a few years ago. He was one of the funniest people I have ever met, and could always make us laugh so hard our stomachs would hurt.

He is survived by his wife, Amy, and their two kids, Avery and Alden. Please keep them, and my Aunt Shanda in your prayers.

-Travis