Our Youth Leave Too Early.....

How do you ever go about writing about something that is truly sad,yet, still needs to be told?
This is such a story and I will try and keep it short here, I will not mention names..

I first met his Mom, we started dating. She has a 13yr old son. This story is more about him than us.

He exemplified potential, bright, handsome, world class athlete but there was an obvious dark side. Behind the smile you could feel the anger.
At first I had no idea while I was getting this feeling, as time went on, it all became much to apparent. Drugs, this very young man, was already at a very young age, under the lure of the mystique the drug world projects. Now, I am not talking about, the social drugs, such as marijuana, no, extasy,heroin, meth and  the much too accessible prescription pills.

I had no idea that our schoolchildren had such easy access to these drugs.

Last Saturday night, 12yrs of knowing and observing this young man all came to an end. During these last 12yrs I had come to the point, that he was unofficially, my adopted son. This is why it has been a very hard week for me, he is dead at 25yrs old, suddenly, no warning, just dead.

He had gone into a local convenient store, to sell the owner a sawed off shotgun. One that he had, "found". He was inebriated, pulling the gun from the case, he fumbled, hit the trigger, the gun went off, removing his head and face.

Dead. Dead at 25yrs. Two children, a 4yr old daughter and 3yr old son, are left without a father. Too often I have read about these type of events but never experiencing it first hand, it is heart wrenching to know, that this indeed is a reality.

After the memorial service, family members all gathered, pictures taken, hugs and tears are shared.
I noticed or observed, that same strange, dark glare, on the face of that small boy, that had just lost his father, the same anger that I had recognized in his fathers face, 12yrs ago. Sadness welled up inside of me that I can not describe.

When, these buyers, of "found" articles, are discovered, maybe then, I will have at least a small bit of piece.

Sorry that I have been away for so long, only to return with a sad story but felt I had to write some of my thoughts down, so as to clear my head and cleanse my emotions.....thank you.....Bob