Saturday, November 19, 2011

Another mother loses her beautiful boy

"Call me" lit up my iPhone display yesterday.
A text message from my son.
It took me 30 minutes to break away from my time-sensitive urgent tasks and make the call.
He answered his phone and in tears blurted out, "Corey's dead".

Corey was my son's good friend who he met in rehab.
They became house-mates in an extended recovery program and a friendship developed.
I met him when my son brought a few of his 'new' friends home for dinner.
Corey was the one that stood out.
Handsome. Gregarious. Polite. Appreciative of the home-made meal. And oh, how he made us laugh. We were all doubled over in laughter at his stories.
Surely, this young man has a future ahead of him, I thought.

Our young friend (early 30s) had 18 months sobriety until yesterday when he overdosed.
Heroin, I'm sure. Details are still unknown.
Does it matter?
I can't sleep as I am overcome with saddness for the loss
and for the stabbing ache that must be devastating his mother.
I don't know her well, though we shared a few rides to Alanon many months ago.
Our schedules didn't always match. Then I stopped seeing her. I don't know if she is attending somewhere else.
Now I know why in the last couple weeks I have felt prompted to call her; "Hi S, would you like to attend a meeting with me tonight?"
I never called.
But now I will.
What I will say, I have no idea. I just have a longing to put my arms around her.
I want to bring her a lemon cheesecake.
One like I made for Corey when he celebrated his one year 'birthday'.
I had never seen such gratitude from anyone. He LOVED lemon cheesecake.

Oh, my God, please help this devastated family.
Please wrap your arms around this mama. Yours are bigger than mine.
Please help my son, and all of Corey's friends to comfort one another.
Please help me reach out to this mom in a meaningful way.

My day is calling so I must go.
Please pray for my mom-friend. She will need all the support she can get.