Charismatic, hilarious, giving, lovable, tragic
From early childhood, Christopher was sweet, funny and loving, especially to his older sister Crystal, who was the light of his life. He was also close to his siblings, Cortney and Coty. He enjoyed Disney World, the beach, swimming, water skiing and wake boarding. He liked fishing and watching sports and could listen to music for hours. Christopher was charismatic; people were drawn to him and he had a unique way of adapting and changing himself to fit into any situation with any group of people. He was known for his caring nature and wanted to make everyone around him feel special. And he could charm people into forgiving him if they were angry with him.
Christopher could do anything with his hands. He spent his last two years in high school honing his skills as a carpenter. Upon graduation, he did carpentry and remodeling work for Wendy’s locations across Ohio. He started an electrician’s apprenticeship but was unable to finish it. Christopher had a goal to own his own construction company, travel and see the world, but his biggest interest was family life. He adored children, and his primary goal was to build a home near a lake in Tennessee and have a family to share it with. Christopher had a special friend, Ashley, that he was interested in, but kept her at arm’s length to protect her from his addiction. She still misses him intensely.
After attending detox and rehabilitation, his goals expanded to include becoming an addiction counselor to “help others with the same demons that troubled him,” his mom, Carol, said. She misses Christopher’s laughter and his strong hugs that showed how much he loved her, even when he couldn’t say it. “I miss his scent and his presence, I just miss HIM,” his mom said. ‘As sad as I am that Christopher is no longer on this earth, I am more sad for the life he lived while he was here, because of addiction.’
“When I think of Christopher, I prefer to remember him during his childhood,” his mom said, ‘he was sweet and funny.’ ‘Watching the transformation of the innocent child to the helplessness of addiction was excruciating. The torture of it is darker than we can imagine; no one wants this disease.” ‘Society, the system and humanity are all failing our children,’ Christopher’s mom stated. ‘Until we change the stigma around addiction, we will not beat the epidemic.’
Christopher’s, mother, Carol Cobb, provided the information for this narrative.
May 4, 1988-September 9, 2018
Age 30-Lived with addiction 15 years
