Andrew Gene Collins

You were so sweet in this picture, so proud of being a big brother and just could not wait to get "your baby" home!  You talked to my tummy for months while I was carrying Kaitlyn; you always spoke like "cookie Monstor" because Sesame Street was your absolute favorite TV program.

Doesn't it look like you're clapping or praying or just saying "Woo-Hoo, I've got a little sister?"

I love you Andrew...always have and always will.

Hey buddy,

This picture is etched in my mind as if I had taken it yesterday. It was taken on Christmas Eve and you and Amy were watching TV in the living room. As always, you both complained of being cold, so I covered you up with a blanket.  I was still wrapping presents; a woman of procrastination I assume, when your Dad told me to take a peek in the living room.  Both you and Amy were absolutely knocked out, sleeping like babies, which is where we left you until you woke the entire household up to declare that "Santa" had come.

Such special and heartfelt memories son. Don't ever forget or dismiss the love that I have for you. I never carried a son in my womb, nor did I give birth to one, but God sent you to me and provided me with the experience of helping to raise a boy. (Oh, so, so different than raising a girl, but so full of excitement and surprises.)

Sleep tight son...until we meet again.

loving you with every ounce of my heart and broken soul,

Deb

Hey buddy,

Just wanted to post this picture...this is where I go, just to think, to soul search and to remember you.  I know that you're in Heaven and look down upon each and every person who visits you, but somehow, it makes me feel that special bond again, just to touch the letters on your head stone.  Missing you always and forever..........Deb

What a cute picture...one that I can remember as if it was taken yesterday!  Andrew, even as a little boy, you loved some kisses and hugs.  Amy thought you were a "boy doll" for awhile.  She loved fixing your hair, even dressing you up in dresses and high heel shoes at times.  (that ended pretty quickly, but you were just three years old and essentially went along with what ever you big sis had planned for you.)

In this picture, you were getting ready for "night-night" and Amy scooped you up from the chair you were sitting in.  She was making noises as if she was going to eat you up..."I'm gonna gitcha, gitcha, gitcha...!"  You cackled and I laughed so hard.  It was cute, sweet and loving, all at the same time.  Again, a memory is worth so much. They live on buddy...I won't let them die.

We Love you forever and always son,

Deb 

Hey buddy,

I'm thinking about days gone by  today.  We have so many memories Andrew, so many moments that I'm thankful for now.  Initially, when you first left us, it was as if there would never be a smile in this house again, that laughter was a thing of the past, but with time, that has changed.  Your sisters still talk about you as if you were "just around the corner."  (I had that printed on the programs at Aunt Gayle's funeral, yours and Granddaddy's...remember son?) 

JUST AROUND THE CORNER.....

I have only slipped away into the next room.

                  I am I, and you are you.

Whatever we were to each other, that we still are.

   Call me by my old family name, speak to me in

          the easy way which you always used.

                 Put no difference in your tone,

        wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.

                Laugh as we always laughed at the

                  little jokes we enjoyed together.

                Pray, smile, think of me, pray for me.

              Let my name ever be the household word

                                   that it always was.

            Let it be spoken without effect: without a trace

                                    of a shadow on it.

         Life means more than it ever meant.  It is the same as

                   it ever was; there is unbroken continuity.

        Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?

             I am waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere

                          very near, just around the corner.

                                                All is well.

                                        Henry Scott Holland