Dear Andrew,

I am holding your memory closer than ever in my heart today, sweet boy, remembering you on this day in 1992 at your birth and all the remaining days of your all too brief life.

What a very quiet baby you were, one who then became a softly whispering little boy who grew into a very kind and gentle young man with a shy smile and a huge heart.

Somehow you always seemed lost, Buddy, as if you had wandered into this world, unsure of how you had ended up here, bewildered as to what purpose had brought you here.

At every moment, watching you, I could only hope that you would eventually settle into your own skin, find your stride, and blaze your own unique path to find that purpose.

You were a bright spark, Andrew, the light by which you struggled to penetrate the darkness around you.

I always felt certain that the power of that spark within you just needed time to grow.

I know that you never meant to leave us. I guess we’ll never know exactly what happened that last night of your life. I wish you had known that you could talk to me about your opiate addiction. Was it a beast that you thought you could control?

Did that monster turn on you…overpower you finally … make you forget how much you’d already fed to it…convince you that just a little more will do no harm?

Maybe you thought you would sleep the deepest sleep you’d ever had and wake the next morning ready to harness the beast again into submission.

But you didn’t wake up.

I wonder if there was a moment when you and the beast realized that this time you both had really messed up.

I hope at that moment, Andrew, that you knew just how richly and deeply and magnanimously you had been loved every day, every hour, every minute and every second of your precious life . . .
by your mom . . .
and your dad . . .
your brother and your sister . . .
your Grandpa FA and your Mama Marge . . .
all your friends . . .
Dawn and me.

I hope you knew, Andrew.
I just hope you knew.

Your Aunt Treesie

I will never forget growing up with you, playing in Candlewood. Talking to you right before you OD’d was a small blessing. I miss you so much.

Terry was a good friend of mine, like an older brother I never had, he would give the shirt off his back to anyone in need, he had awesome sense of humor, very intelligent; I miss him dearly, more than words can say

I once knew a man named Brian. He was tall and shy he dressed nice and was respectful. One day me and Brian fell in love. He took me to a Mexican Restaurant and told me I was beautiful. I went home with him to talk and be closer to him. His family didn’t approve of me, and he deeply valued the family that he had because he didn’t have his have his mom or dad. I felt the weight of this, and I broke up with him for his betterment. We stayed in touch through the years and we watched each other fall into our own addictions. Several addictions. The one we had in common was fentanyl. I texted him one day to see if he wanted to smoke with me. He told me he had been clean or was trying to get clean or was trying to get clean but that he would find some dope for me. I never heard back from him, so I found my own. The next day or really the next few hours he was found dead of a fentanyl overdose August 31st, 2025. My heart shattered because I knew that I’d set him back in his addiction. I knew that he found the dope but kept it for himself instead. It should’ve been me not him. I lost the kindest most loving man I’d ever met, and I played a part in it. I’m now in a recovery program to change my life and to live the life he never got to live I know he’s in heaven at peace with God, but I still carry the burden of his death.

Danielle, My one and only child. My sweet, loving, giving and beautiful daughter. You left me way to soon. It’s not supposed to be this way. You absents has made this world cold and lonely. You had such a light about you. You lit up every room you entered. Always there to help anyone that needed it. I know that God wanted you because you were already an angel on earth. I wish we all could have seen the woman you were becoming. Your girls could have seen how great you could be. I know they would have been proud. I know I am. I miss you more than words can express. I know the day I got the phone call to come home to Georgia that you were on life support my world stopped and it hasn’t moved since that second. I hope and pray that you know how much you mean to me , your daddy and all of us who love you. . I carry you with me always not a second goes by that your not in my heart and on. My mind. I feel if I had stayed in Georgia our reality would be different. That you would still be here with me and your 2 girls. I wish I could change things. I love you my baby girl always and forever to the moon and back. I wait for the day to see your smiling face again and hold you in my arms and never let you go again.

My husband taken far to soon on June 17th, 2026. He wasn’t just my husband he was my best friend and my soul mate. He was also a father, a brother, a son and a really great friend to everyone he met. He will be forever missed and eternally loved….R.I.P John…