March 4 2010 we buried Chet's mom. She lived with us for about a year right after Chet and I got together and then she moved out, we moved and had Rylie. I think we saw her twice after that. She came over once to meet Rylie and we went to visit her at "her bar" when Rylie was about 1, I think it was mother's day. I don't believe we saw her again nor did she meet any of the other kids until about 2 weeks before she died. She was an alcoholic and heavy smoker and it killed her.
March 4 2011 we attended the funeral for Chet's Uncle Joe. He was married to Chet's Aunt Michelle and they had 3 boys. I don't know a lot about his situation but I know he had some issues with alcohol and I believe quite a lot of DUI's. He took a handful of pills and drank himself to death. He was also a tree trimmer and Chet had spent quite a bit of time with him growing up and it was sad to lose him.
March 15 2011 we attended the funeral for Bubba, Joe and Michelle's youngest son. I also did not know him well, saw him at funerals and family reunions and a few other family gatherings. And I will refer to him as Bubba, I can tell you that I have known a lot of people with the nickname of Bubba but I have seriously never ever heard anyone refer to him by his real name of Andrew.....I think everybody called him Bubba!
I learned a lot about him at his funeral, I feel like I know him a little bit better now. I think what I got the most out of it was that he was a true and loyal friend to everyone, the type of guy who would drop whatever he was doing to go help somebody out. He also loved his Mama and wasn't afraid to show it. He was a father who was always showing off pictures of his little girl.
He was also a victim....a victim of crystal meth. I can only imagine how hard of a year he had, losing his dad to suicide last year. I know he was getting into the meth and he was seeing and hearing things. On March 10 he put a gun to his head and he pulled the trigger. It is heartbreaking, he was only 25. He had his whole life ahead of him but this horrible drug robbed him of that.
I share his story because Michelle wants people to know what this can do to a good person, how it can change somebody and make them do things they wouldn't normally do. This is year number 3 of losing someone in our family to the disease of drugs and alcohol and I urge anyone to try and help anyone they may know battling the same demons. It doesn't mean you can help them or change anything but it never ever hurts to try.
And please pray for Michelle her older 2 sons, Joey and Dustin.....their embarking on the most difficult time of their lives. I admire Michelle for her strength, I can't even begin to imagine what she is going through. I pray my kids never ever have a moment in their lives when they feel that they can't go on or that life is not worth it because it is sooo worth it.
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