By Britt Nelson

 

I was there when Coady was born
I was there when Coady died.
He was 26 years old.
Coady died of a heroin overdose
In Jaco Beach, Costa Rica, June 8, 2015.

 

He had accepted Jesus as his savior.
Fifteen days before Coady died I saw him Baptized
In the Pacific Ocean waves.

 

I did not know my son.
During his adult years,
There was always the child in Coady –

Caring for animals, having a pet chicken,
or a really big pet frog,

Or growing a garden, or feeding an
Iguana in Costa Rica or taking in a stray
Cat he named Kenny.

I did not know my son

Just as soon as Coady could walk he was always finding interesting things

and of course he had to show everybody.

 

When you were eight, Coady, I remember

You finding a real Indian arrowhead

In the surf on St. George Island in Florida.
I could hear you screaming with joy.
You knew what it was.
And you running toward us,
All your family standing on the beach.
And then you held out your hand
And opened your fingers one at time.
I did not know my son.

Coady’s demons started
With the word Cancer, no one else could see
How this tore Coady apart. He suffered in silence.
Cancer consumed us all as Mom took
Five years to pass away in front of our eyes.
Day by day, little by little Mom disappeared
And took her last breath with all of us there.
All eight of Mom’s cats were on her bed along with her Bible.

No one really noticed that you, too, were slipping away.
After that, we all spun out of control.
I did not know my son.

 

The devil found his chance and Coady knew it could happen.
Coady wrote in my Bible, St. Luke 4:13 in his own handwriting.
“And when he had exhausted every kind of temptation the devil withdrew until his next opportunity.”
Jesus himself took Coady to the Kingdom of Christ Almighty.
Coady made a mistake that night.
Special delivery and the gates opened.
Coady found our Lord with help from
U-Turn For Christ with Horizon Church.

He proclaimed his faith with a Baptismal
In the ocean waters with his church family holding him.

I did not know my son.
When Coady was a teenager
He never really had a girlfriend,
He never took a girl to a movie,

He never went to a high school prom.
But he liked girls. Always pointing out a cutie.
He didn’t go to high school,
But instead whittled that four years down to
Two weeks of study and passed his GED at 16.
I did not know my son.
One of Coady’s finest moments came when he saved
A disabled woman from drowning after she fell into a creek.
He ran a hundred yards thru thick bush and briars
To get to her and
Hold her head out of the water
Until rescuers arrived.
He really did save this lady’s life. I saw him.
I did not know my son.
Coady was locked up in jail for his gardening skills,
He could grow the best. And jail did the rest.
I did not know my son.
His favorite pet cat was named Little Head.

She was better than all the rest.
They were the best of pals.
I did not know my son.
Coady was loyal to a fault – To his friends
And even to his drug dealers with names like Shorty and Silk.
Never giving up info to the police.
In jail, they called him Chicken Little
And C-Money and V8 with tattoos to prove it.
All the above in a few short years.
I did not know my son.

His mama died when he was 17,

Coady never got over her passing.

Coady had his Mom’s name “Jeni” tattooed on his chest.
And for 9 years he longed for her,
Speaking of his Mom daily and wanting another hug.
He’s getting his hugs.

 

Coady’s memorial service
was the first one held
in the new Horizon Church.

 

About the Author

Britt Nelson relocated to Costa Rica in 2011 from Florida, where he served as news editor for the Palatka Daily News, a newspaper owned by the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group (NYT-RNG) for 20 years.

Nelson served the NYT-RNG for 18 years in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida as a correspondent, reporter, staff writer, senior staff writer training new reporters, copy editor, page designer, editorial writer, editorial page editor and editorial board member.