My friend, Amber Jean Thompson, made a very poor decision that cost her her life... Sunday, March 22, 2009... She was rushed to Rush Copley hospital in Aurora, IL... 11:00 AM on March 22, she was pronounced dead, the cause of death was a heroin overdose... March 23, 2009, I found this information out... My first reaction was tears. The next thing I did, was contact her ex-boyfriend, and one of my closest friends, Tig. I had not spoken to this man in more than a year, and the first thing I had to say to him was "Amber died of a heroin overdose yesterday morning..." The past week has been an emotional rollercoaster, and it will continue to be for quite a while.

I went to her Wake yesterday... It's still chilling for me to say that, but going gave me a bit of closure... I say a bit, because I still can't understand what has happened, and I really don't think I want to understand it, either. The last time I saw her, was this week last year... I had actually wondered what she and the rest of the old group from OHS had been up to since the last time I saw them, and I had this thought just last week... We lost someone special, there's no doubt about it.
For those who couldn't attend, this is the little prayer card that her family had, exactly as it appears on the physical card:

In memory of

Amber Jean Thompson

Born into life
November 15,1990

Born into eternal life
March 22, 2009

Funeral Service
Friday, March 27, 2009

"We knew little that morning,
God was going to call your name,
In life we loved you dearly, In
death we do the same, It broke our
hearts to lose you, You did not go alone.

For part of us went with you, the day God
called you home.
You left us beautiful
memories, your love is still our guide, and
though we cannot see you, You are always by
our side.
Our family chain is broken, and
nothing seems the same, but as God calls us
one by one, the chain will link again.
"

I'm going to miss Amber... I will always remember her as a fairly shy, somewhat insecure, always fun, intelligent, beautiful girl... And I am going to walk away from this with a valuable lesson that I had wished to learn differently... Hold onto the ones we love, and remind them at every opportunity how important they are to us, because we just don't know what direction life is going to take next. I think that in keeping this lesson close to my heart, she'll always be remembered. Amber, goodnight, and may God shelter you from here on out... To everyone else; listen, learn, laugh, love, and live.