Chrisopher Kenzer (1990 – 2010)
Every year I share some piece of our twenty-year-old son Chris’ life and death with the readers of our AAIM book. Every year it’s hard to do, but it is important that he is not forgotten. It’s important to share the pain so that others might be spared
what we have gone through.
We live every parent’s worst nightmare. Every moment, from the moment we received the
phone call from the hospital to sitting down to write this tribute, is painful.
Chris was no different than anyone else’s loved one.
He was full of life, he had a great sense of humor, and he had a beautiful
smile. He sometimes made poor decisions, but was a good young man.
He had hopes and dreams. As parents, we also had
hopes and dreams for him.
We thought he would get married, have a house, and have children. We thought we would be awesome grandparents, that we would spoil our grandchildren and get to watch our family grow.
The words that I use to try to describe losing my son are inadequate. From the moment, the hospital called our home, to our arrival at the hospital; it never occurred to us that Chris could be dead. We thought he’d be in surgery, maybe ICU.
The hospital staff put us in a little room when we arrived. A doctor and nurse came in and said, “We’re sorry but there was nothing we could do. His injuries were too severe.”