To the ones we love

Dear Editor:

Christmas Day, 1999. Seems like yesterday. I found out that morning my brother John was gone. The autopsy came in two days later and confirmed a drug overdose. He purchased methadone from an acquaintance, who stole it from a woman who was using it to help ease the pain of cancer. To this day, my family and I will never know if my brother did this on purpose, or he just wanted to get high. Either way, he is gone. Never forgotten.

The past six weeks in the community have been challenging for many people, looking for answers or clues as to why their son, daughter or friend chose to end their own life. My heart goes out to all of you, and I can honestly say, I’m not sure if it gets easier with time.

On Saturday, my neighbor and friend Tony wrote about his brother in his weekly column. Like so many others, he and I are still wondering, “What could we have done?”

Check in on your friends and family, make sure everything is OK, and when you wake up in the morning, tell someone you love them, and say it like you mean it because you may not get another chance.

Jeff Heidemann

Basalt