In memory of Sara “Bob” Prideaux
Sara was born July 20th, 1999 to wonderful parents who adored her. She died suddenly July 30th, 2015 due to an undiagnosed mental illness at the age of 16. Sara ended her life due to unimaginable pain that was unseen. Sara was on the other end of mental illness than Jason Arkin. Jason shared his struggles with his parents while she kept her struggles hidden. Both Sara and Jason come from great families. Both children were perfectionists. Both children suffered greatly in their fights against their own brains. As her mother, I had no idea that she was suicidal or even that she was struggling. Sara was in the top of her class. She had a 4.7 GPA, spoke multiple languages, loved to bake, and her favorite animal was a penguin. Sara could light up the room with her smile and her personality. Sara had normal teenage frustrations but was always overcoming them. She knew that her family loved her. She was going to change the world with her wit and brains. We didn’t have the chance to save Sara from her choice to end her life…maybe if we could end the stigma around mental illness children like Sara will not feel ashamed to Speak Up.
A tribute to my beautiful daughter: Sara Renea
Sara was amazing from the day she was born. God saved me the day he gave me her. She knew that she was loved. From the moment she was born she was loved She gave me a reason to live laugh and love.
She loved to make people laugh. She liked to help others. She loved Ramen noodles. She loved to bake not just out of a box but putting all the ingredients together. She loved cupcakes, She love pancakes. She loved her dad, James. She loved her bonus dad, Jason. She loved her little brother, Austin. She loved to correct people when they were wrong, she didn’t mean too but she couldn’t help it she was so damn smart. She was most of the time the smartest person in the room. She loved to draw and doodle. She loved to play the piano. She loved hot tamales as in the candy. She loved penguins. That was her favorite animal in the world. She had a ton of them all over her room. She loved Tinkerbell and collected them until recently. She loved Disney when she was little. She loved scratcher tickets. She love Cos play and anime. She loved Fairy Tail anime. She loved to read. She started reading at the age of 3 and never stopped. She loved Roman and Greek mythology. She loved Harry Potter. She loved her two cats. She loved to kidney punch her bonus dad. She loved to play with legos. She loved to play with play-doh but you couldn’t mix the colors. She loved to snuggle with her mommy. She loved that I babied her. She loved to steal my blankie. She loved her Chinese nanny. She loved build a bear. She loved doing stage make up. She loved Stuco. She loved school. She was a natural at being smart. She always pushed herself to get good grades. She loved speaking Spanish. She loved ignoring my texts. She loved her Auntie Nici and her nieces. She loved seeing her Aunt and Uncle every year in TN. She loved believing in Santa Clause for her little brother. She loved X-mas. She loved all the traditions that we have made over the 15 years. She loved making snicker doodles and sugar cookies every holiday. She loved going to anime conventions. She loved listening to music. She didn’t like country but would listen with me anyways. She didn’t love pictures but would take them anyways with me. She love to play with snow. She loved fireworks. She loved watching Monk. She loved watching CSI. She loved the Ren Fest, she always wanted to be a fairy there. She loved doing scavenger hunts. She loved girl scouts. She loved organizing things. She loved couponing with her mom. She loved helping me save money. She loved games on her phone. She loved chopping wood with the ax because it freaked me out. She loved playing with the fire pit. She liked the movie Frozen. She loved her friends. She loved to help them with anything they needed. She was a procrastinator at times. She love to dance at one time. She loved doing gymnastics. She loved Canterbury Prep School that she attended as a kid. She loved Spain and being free. She loved cupcakes!!! She loved collecting markers and sharpee’s. She loved cinnamon coffee cakes. She loved being Elf 1 with Tommey every year. She loved making cookies with Gma Kathy. She loved cinnamon rolls. She loved her dad’s chocolate chip cookies. She wasn’t into social media. She loved old time type writers. She just got one for Xmas. She loved to hide under the bed and scare Jason. She did not like to do laundry even though she always did help with mine. She loved the movie Catch me if you can. She loved Carebears when she was little. She loved blues clues. She loved yellow ducky. She did not like peanut butter at all. She loved anything made out of bread, well almost. She loved playing minecraft. She loved jumping on mini trampolines. She loved driving the golf cart. She loved hanging out in her room listening to her music. She loved letting me play with her hair. She loved letting me take care of her like she was little because I needed to feel needed. She liked to steal Jason’s man chair because she could. She loved to use her bow like Catniss everdean. She loved to steal Gpa Steve, Troy and Matt’s hats. She loved animals. Cats and dogs. She loved being free. She loved calling people jerkbutts. She liked pink but only when she was little. Recently she like purple, Teal, and Silver. She also like black. She loved stealing my over sized hoodies. She liked that she totally stole her bonus dad’s black one. I wore it in her memory at her celebration. She didn’t like shopping but before she went to Spain she let me take her. We bought her dresses. I loved that memory with her. She wasn’t a huge dress wearing person. She was beautiful. I wish she could have seen what we all saw. I loved her infectious smile. She loved to boop her family on the nose. We called her Rhinoceros Sara at my house. I was Princess Mommy. I loved to call her by her middle name when she was in trouble which was never. Most of the time I used her middle name to let her know I was serious or the mom had spoken. She loved the movie Zoom. She loved milk…like loved it. She would drink Hersey chocolate powder only, no chocolate syrup. She loved drawing snails. She didn’t really like being in big groups of people. She loved her friend Shiloh and that damn egg drop science thing. She was never mean to people because she didn’t like how people had been mean to her growing up. She loved challenging me mentally. She always did things to make me feel better. She was my angel in more ways than one. She didn’t care for sports. She loved playing D&D with Liz and her mom so much she asked for it for her 16th bday. She loved writing with Gabbitha. She loved talking to Becca about Germany and Spain. She loved her friends. They got to see the real BOB that few had the privilege to meet. She loved working with Jenn on that silly English painting that I wanted to throw out the window. lol She loved playing board games. She loved playing rummy cube and I had to cheat to beat her. She loved subway sandwiches-white bread turkey only. She loved Doritos. She loved BBQ Chips Lays only. She didn’t like many foods but the ones she loved. She ate a lot of them. She loved Webkinz when she was little. She loved going to Title boxing. She loved that her Gma Helen would do anything for her and would spoil her all the time since she was little. She loved her Spanish teacher Leigh R. She loved to make people feel better when they were down. She loved learning new things. She loved her gifted teacher from last year-they were a lot alike. She didn’t like being illogical. She loved helping her friends anytime they needed it. She like playing Harry Potter Clue. She loved telling her Gpa James-that she loved Gma more than he did. It was there little game they played on who loved who more. She won more school academic awards than anyone I know. Spelling Bee like 4 times in a row. She loved being smart and being a NERD. She has more awards and metals than anyone I know.
These are just a few of the things that she loved.
I miss her every day of every moment.
Love always,
Mom, Jason, Buba, and many family and friends who loved her.
- Sara Prideaux 2015
