An Extraordinary Boy...

Today is my son Christopher's birthday!

He was born February 26, 1981 in Panama City, Florida. He will always seem like an eleven year old boy to me even though this is his 26th birthday.

For you see, Chris died at the age of eleven.

My son left this planet and headed for heaven on April 13, 1992. He was awaiting a heart/lung transplant (he had been waiting six months) but passed away before a donor could be found. Chris spent the last year of his young life bound to a wheelchair and an oxygen tank.

We all expect to bury our parents some day, it's the natural order of things. A parent never expects to bury their child. It is a horrible thing to have to do.

I've spent the past years trying to focus on my son's life and not on his death. But at times, the memories of that event come flooding back into my mind and fills my heart, soul, and spirit with pain, remorse, frustration, and questions - many, many questions.

Chris was a bright candle and a very unique person. He had a dry sense of humor that couldn't be beat. I've written about his humor in past posts. As you can see from the picture, he had no embarrassment whatsoever from the massive scar on this chest caused by open-heart surgery. He eventually ended up with far more scar tissue after this picture was taken because he had two more open-heart surgeries after that.

We had a nickname for Chris, it was "Bear". We called him that because he had to "tough it out" with so many surgeries and with a seemingly unending onslaught of exams, blood tests, x-rays, and lots and lots of hospitalizations. Chris complained very little and was always an encouragement to everyone around him. He could easily light up a room with his smile and positive outlook. Whenever someone ask Chris how he was doing - he would always respond with "Fine", even when he wasn't.

I'm sure visitors to Sunset Cemetery in Valparaiso, Florida probably stop and scratch their heads if they just happen to come across my son's headstone. Blazoned across the marble surface reads the following words:

"How you doing Bear?" "Fine."

My son's life touched many, many lives. He impacted an entire community. To this day, fifteen years later, a little picnic area located in a courtyard at Valparaiso Elementary School remains dedicated to Chris.

I miss you so much son.