Angels Memorial

Alex was 28 years old and working as an electrician for a very reputable company in Columbia County, GA.  He was well on his way to becoming a licensed electrician by taking night classes, while working full time, as additional credit towards the experience requirements that would have allowed him to take the state licensure exam earlier than required.

 

Alex loved what he did.  He worked just about 7 days a week voluntarily, which showed just how much he loved being an electrician, and he rarely took any time off.  However, on that one fateful Sunday in July, Alex decided to take a break and go golfing to have some fun with his friends, but unfortunately, he never came back home that night.  …Alex always came back home.

 

As I was sitting on my front steps that Sunday afternoon, two ladies pulled up and came walking down my driveway.  They looked official; both were dressed in khaki pants and polo shirts and one of them had a badge on her belt.   One of the ladies was an investigator, and the other was the assistant coroner.  While they made eye contact walking down my driveway, I sat wondering why they came to our home?  I could not think of any reason at all, so I asked them, “could I help you?”, and one of them said, “I am sorry, Alex had passed”.  Time seemed to stop right then and there.  I could not comprehend what she was saying to me as those seconds after she spoke seemed like an eternity.  I asked what she meant, and she said Alex was gone, and he had passed away.  I could not, did not want to believe it, but it was true.

 

When I asked her how Alex passed, one of the ladies told me that he was found outside the passenger door of his truck on the ground, and that by the time emergency medical personnel arrived at his body, Alex was already “blue” and could not be revived.  That picture in my mind will last forever, our poor Alex, lying outside of his truck, dead.  No immediate signs of why, just a young lifeless soul.   However,  one of them spoke up and immediately said that Alex was not alone and that there was someone else there.  She further explained that when the call came in to 911, the person on the other end had told them to please send someone immediately because there were 2 men laying in a yard.  Not only had Alex passed, but he was with a friend, his best friend, and he was laying in his front yard several feet from Alex, and just steps away from his front door. 

 

The good news for Alex’s best friend’s family was that EMS got there just in time, and even though Ben was also on death’s doorstep, the emergency personnel were able to administer Narcan which revived him and saved his life.  Still, unfortunately for us, it was too late for Alex.  He was gone.  We would never see him again, ever, except for one last time when we saw his lifeless body laying in a casket.  We would never be the same, his mother would never be the same ever again.  One of the worst parts of all of this for me is knowing that there was a fire station only 1 street over from where Alex died, and it all came down to time, the time that he did not have, and the time between Alex taking one pill that he did not think would kill him.   Alex died suddenly and unexpectedly.  He died in under 40 minutes of taking one pill that he thought was something else, and time just ran out.

 

Their words became a blur.  I heard what they were saying, but it all felt surreal.  A very bad dream that for certain you would wake up from at any moment.  I remember saying to myself, no, please don’t let this be the case.  This cannot be true, but it was.  This is real, there would be no waking up because I was awake, and there was nothing that was going to change.  Then I had to do the hardest thing possible in my entire life.  I had to walk inside, call Laura (his mom) up from the basement and tell her that Alex died.  I remember that as she got to the top of the steps, I told her what the ladies had told me; that Alex had passed way, and he was never coming home.  Her face turned white, she screamed hysterically, it was so loud, the loudest I had ever heard someone scream.  It pierced my ears, pierced my soul.  Then she screamed NO!, and then threw herself on the floor.  I cannot put into words seeing her emotions, and her distress. It was horrible and heartbreaking, devastating in fact.  Our lives, her life especially, had changed forever and NOTHING would ever, or will ever, be the same.   

 

Life for the both of us stopped,  It's like the earth stopped rotating and the clocks stopped ticking.  Life was never going to be the same, never, ever, ever again would it be the same.  There would be no more celebrations in our lives; No birthdays, no more Thanksgivings, no more Christmases, no more Mother's Day Celebrations No more Mother's Day Pickle-Ball games with the three of us, nothing, but only grief, sadness, and despair.  No more happiness, only insurmountable pain.  Not just any type of that kind of  pain and agony either, it's a soul crushing grief that you could never imagine.  It cuts trough your bones, your skin, your entire being.  There is no joy, no happiness, no sunshine, only a very dark cloud of misery hanging over our home. and our lives. 

 

Laura's grief is still crushing her to this day.  There are no feelings or words that can express or explain the sudden and unexpected death of a child.  It’s not natural.  A child should never pass away before a parent, and a parent should never burry a child.  It leaves a void that will never be filled.  A hole in your heart, a heart that aches every day, every minute, every hour.  This has got to be the most terrible thing to suffer through in life, especially for Laura, a mother who lost her son.  A part of her before he was born, and a part of her that she loved and cared for even when he was grown.   I cannot even express into words the amount of her immeasurable suffering that I witness daily.  My heart breaks for her and there is nothing that I can do.   I just wish there was something I could do.

 

We love and miss Alex, and NOTHING is ever going to be the same.  He was a beautiful, funny, well-mannered, and kind soul.  He was taken from us, and from this earth way too young.  All because he took “1” pill that killed him.  He was poisoned by "1" small pill laced with Fentanyl.  He never saw it coming, he did not want to die, and now because of that “1” pill, he will be forever 28.

 

We love and miss you everyday Alex,

Bryan and Mom