In early2009, CJ had a chance meeting with a waitress that would bring a group of misfits and outlaws together and make them family for life. I was that waitress and he changed all of our lives for the better. Myself and my daughters, Scarlett & Suellen, and his brother and sister, Liz & Mike, will carry those memories with us forever. Thinking back, I can’t believe how tiny that house was yet no one ever seemed to notice. If i could relive any one day of our life together, I would choose just an ordinary day. Chris and Mikey playing video games in the living room, the girls in their room putting on make up and giggling about boys, finding Aiden sitting in the dogs water bowl wearing nothing but a diaper and Chris’s shoes, our dogs Wilbur and Lil running in and out of the house, eating dinner together at that table we had with the long benches, and that last moment of the day when everyone was just getting laid down, I’d make my final rounds, handing out goodnight kisses and nighty-nights, and then 30 minutes later yell from my bed, “y’all shut the hell up and go to sleep, you got school in the morning!!” And then Chris and i hysterically laughing when the entire house instantly got quiet. If we can learn one thing from Chris’s sudden passing, I hope its to never take those ordinary days for granted because now, through tear-filled eyes, we can see just how extraordinary they really were.
I miss you my son. I know God is taking care of you now. His will be done. Us left here need you to give us strength to accept Your will. Please help us, stay with us, and thank You for taking care of CJ, Leia his daughter/my granddaughter, his Dad my beloved husband Ed, and all who have gone to their eyernal rest before him. I miss you CJ.
When they said he was a charmer they weren’t lying. He took me on probably the best date of my entire life. Because of his job, he had vendor passes to get into Jazz Fest. It was incredible. We practically parked next to the stage while everyone else had to came in by shuttle, every booth we walked by handed us free food and beer, and then i had the most magical moment of my life. Etta James walks out on stage and starts singing. At this point he was pretty sure he had me. But when she started singing “At Last” and he saw me just laid down in the grass and let the tears flow, he was for sure he had me. This guy here, he was something.