Dear Family And Friends ...

It has been almost 5 weeks since Joey died...certainly the shortest and longest season of life we have ever lived. On the one hand we can't believe so much time has passed since we first heard the devastating news--it was a blur of shock, panic, deadlines and unwanted decisions. On the other hand, it feels our crushed hopes and dashed dreams, the relentless pain of missing our beautiful son, is never-ending. And from hearing from others who have walked this road before us, we now know in fact that it does indeed never end. There is nothing that ever takes away the pain of missing a child lost to his parents and family.

We are accepting as part of the "new normal" of our lives that as long as we live, we will long for our precious son. How could it be any other way? We've loved him for 28 years; we fed him, dressed him, comforted him; we sang to him, snuggled with him, and read Dr. Seuss to him; we taught him to ride a bike, hit a ball, and ski a slope; we watched him grow tall, fall in love with music, live his dreams, and love God and the world around him. We saw him grow into a talented, considerate, fun-loving and successful man with a wide circle of friends and fans.

We were proud of who he was as we packed up his bungalow in LA. His private world became open to our viewing... his journals, his finances, his books, his computer and his closets gave testimony to an upright man. We are proud of him in life and in death.

How can we ever forget or become accustomed to the loss of this man who graced our lives for 28 vibrant years? It's a testimony to his worth that we cannot. We will grieve his loss till we are with him again, and learn to function with our grief by God's grace. We have taken ourselves off of "recovery time tables" and just accepted that this too is part of the loss...our life will never be the same.

Karen and Joe