The Rebel

What do we do now?

People have been asking about a funeral or service.

The boys and I are planning to have something small here. We’re not even sure yet what that will be. We are having Andy cremated and we can’t decide what to do with the ashes. He loved being on Lake Champlain and taking the ferry to Plattsburgh, so I suggested we drop them from the ferry. (I know that’s illegal but I also helped illegally throw his mom’s ashes into the Hudson about 6 weeks after our first date, so I think he’d approve.)

Jackson was not on board with illegal activities.

Charlie and Jackson would like there to be a place for the ashes – a place they can visit – but we’re not sure where that place should be, or if we just want to keep the ashes at home.  I’m letting them lead the way. I think once we receive the ashes we may have a better idea of what to do with them.

Some of Andy’s friends are organizing a celebration of Andy’s life – that will be the main service. It will be sometime in the new year and I’ll post here once we have more details.

The boys and I are still numb. I am having trouble processing things, like I did in the days after 9/11 (I lived in New York then), but magnified far beyond that.

My dad died almost 5 years ago, on December 4, 2019. He had Alzheimer’s, so his death wasn’t entirely unexpected and at the end, it was a relief.

This is so unexpected that it’s incomprehensible. I can’t get past how fast it was, how he was doing laps around the hospital floor with a walker two weeks ago, joking with friends, doing some of his favorite bits (including “the rebel” and “I just lost my appetite.”) I can’t wrap my head around the rapid decline, or that he’s gone.

I have Andy’s phone and am getting messages from people to him. They know he is gone, they are just sending the messages there.

I am in awe of all the social media posts about Andy, and the news stories, and the text and calls and messages from friends and family. I am trying to catalogue everything to save for the boys in some kind of memory book. If you have photos of memories to share, please do so here or send to me at hlcrist@gmail.com. I want Jackson and Charlie to have tangible reminders of how much Andy meant to so many people, and how much his music meant to them too.