Linda Nelson

That Notification – Death of a Loved One

You see it happen all the time in television shows where the police department sends a couple of officers to the home of a former addict. They knock on the door and wait for someone to answer, knowing that the news they have to tell is going to be despairing for the recipient.

Mmm… that news was delivered to me on Monday, May 30^th, 2022 – This Memorial Day.

My son was found deceased in his home by a friend of his that would routinely check on him to make sure that he got up in time to check in with the Boss to see if there was work for the day.

Photo by Mauru00edcio Eugu00eanio on Pexels.com

Bob found Chris in his living room chair. He had passed some time in the early morning hours. They are not sure of the cause of death. They suspect Fentanyl is to blame.

What is even sadder is that Chris had been doing so well. He had been seeking medical assistance for mental health to combat his drug addiction. He was so proud that he was taking all the right steps for the first time in his life. He had been regaining his life back. Making plans. Working on improving his health even more. Enjoying his line of work as a concrete wall technician.

He was traveling. Visiting places that he had never seen before. Saw his first alligator in Florida. Found a bunch of seals basking on the shores of Nantucket.

Then came the friends. Friends from the past saw how good he was doing. Maybe they were curious at first, maybe they were becoming jealous that he was doing so well and not feeling miserable anymore.

They said, hey Chris, let’s hang out sometime. We haven’t seen each other in so long. Buddy – Ol’ Pal.

Sure –

So, he met with them for a few drinks at a couple of local bars Sunday night before Memorial Day.

Alcohol is not an addict’s friend. It causes them to forget why they were feeling so good about themselves.

One of those so-called old friends convinced my son to use it one last time. He will never use it again because he is GONE!

I am so filled with grief. We never planned for this day. Worst of all, Funeral services are so expensive. The funeral home needs everything to be paid upfront and they give you a deadline of less than a week to come up with the money. Not 30 days, not even 7 days.

I was going to settle for just the cremation service which is $3,500 but now my daughter is requesting a short wake so that she can lay eyes on her brother for one last time. She saw him 7 years ago.

I started a Go-Fund-Me to help raise funds for Funeral Services, but we are still far from our goal of $6000. I am distraught and full of grief.

It feels like my heart is being torn from my chest. This is a mother’s worst nightmare!

I hate having to ask for help but every bit adds up to help us reach our goal so that we can put Chris to rest and say our goodbyes and pay our respects.

Could you please help us, even with a small donation?

Go-Fund-Me https://gofund.me/600ce3e6

photography of people graduating — Photo by Emily Ranquist on Pexels.com

That’s right. I just entered my last Undergraduate class. I will have one month off during July, and then I will finish off my Bachelor Degree and at the same time, begin my Graduate classes. I expect to finish the Bachelor Degree this coming October 2019. Three years ago, I could barely imagine getting this far with my education. College was only a pipe dream up until 2016 when I began poking around on the Franklin Pierce University website. I thought it was only a dream.

A student advisor from Franklin Pierce immediately called me and began asking me questions, and I responded by telling her that I had been out of school since ’83. That was when she said to me that it didn’t matter all I needed to do was send her a copy of my high school transcript, which she then told me how to go about doing that.

Filling out the Financial Aid form was not that hard. I already was used to doing my own income taxes every year and found the form pretty self-explanatory.

I wasn’t all sure as to what I wanted to study in the beginning. I thought that social studies would help me with character building as a writer, so I took a handful of those courses which I added business studies to. Then a job opportunity happened for me at work. Once again, I changed my education course. Since then, I have been focusing on accounting and Financing.

What will I do next when school is over?

I will go back to writing. There are several works that I need to finish up writing the first drafts. I think I will shoot for the goal of finishing the first draft once a month and sitting on that draft while working on the next draft. When I have three drafts done, I would like to cycle back to that first of the drafts and go through the 2^nd draft of that story and cycle through those for up to about 3 drafts each. When I finish the 3^rd draft of the first work, I will need to begin working on a new first draft. It is all about trying to remain productive and keep the creative wheel turning.

Writers need to keep goals. If they don’t, they become complacent. I want to be a spontaneous writer.

Who knows, maybe I will finish the first draft during July while I wait for that next class to start.

What are your plans for the summer? Do you have writing goals? I would love to hear about them.