After Richie graduated from high school (May 2005), he began working at Disney’s MGM Studios. He didn’t like it but he did it anyway, it helped pay his bills and that was all he cared. We were really proud of him, he worked, took care of his bills, went out, had fun, etc.
Then he began studying at UTI, “Universal Technical Institute,” for Auto repair technician. His dad knew him pretty well, so he sat down to speak with him and asked him if he was sure that this is what he wanted to do. Richie was the clean type: clean hands, clean finger nails, it seemed odd that he wanted to work in a car’s engine – everyone knows what an auto repair technician’s hands look like – those were not Richie’s hands. But, since that was what he chose, then that was where he was headed.
He would wake up at about 5am and was heading out the door by 5:30am to begin his classes at 6. Then he would head straight to work until about 10pm, and then home. But by February 2006 Richie was fed up with UTI and decided he did not want to continue and 6-months short of graduating he dropped out.
He drove a 1996 black Dodge Neon that we purchased for him. He took very good care of his car and “hooked it up,” like they say, with nice rims that he proudly paid for on a monthly basis. He was doing good managing his finances at this point, until he fell in love.
Richie met a young girl, he told me he liked her right off the bat. He said they were alike in many ways: liked the same movies, same foods, had the same view in life, etc. I asked him, “Where did you meet her?” He said that I wouldn’t like where he met her. He knew I was skeptical about who you meet on My Space. And he went ahead to tell me where he met her. I did tell him that he was an adult and that he just needed to be careful who he was talking to on My Space. He assured me he would be okay and asked me to give her a chance, to which I agreed. Now looking back I realize that my son truly valued what I had to say.
Her name is Yahaira and she lived on the East side of town, almost an hour away. And, as it happens to many young-adult teens, he fell in love and everything else was secondary.
He began to skip work to be with his girl and was let go from Disney. By March he began working at Wal-Mart, but love got in the way again and he was let go. He then was hired at the Rosen Centre Hotel and was able to hold that job for at least three months before being let go. He was very much in love and, as I said before, everything else was secondary.
He did go back to college in August 2006, he asked me what should he study. I remember telling him that if he was unsure, then he should just go ahead and take the basic courses he needed to take anyway, and then maybe, by the time he was done with those courses, he would know what he wanted to do. He agreed and so that was what he did. He was then hired at CarMax but that didn’t last. He also worked as a sales associate for ADT but somehow that didn’t work either, as well as Maggiano’s.
As all teenagers, Richie hated “the talk.” Whenever we would tell him that we needed to speak to him regarding responsibility and his job situation, he would find a way to evade us. I didn’t expect less, we all avoided those talks with our parents at one time or another. He was discovering what he could do, what he wanted to do, and where he wanted to go, as well as, love for the very first time.
Richie stayed out with his girlfriend quite often, maybe 3 out of 7 nights a week and when they were not together, they would talk for hours on the phone, which brought his bill up to over $1700 bucks!!! Of course, he couldn’t afford to pay it and it was disconnected. I didn’t want my child running around without a means of communication so I purchased him a phone from Metro PCS since the bill would never go over $60 he said he would be able to afford the payment. I did tell him that the only condition was that if he did not stay at home that night to please call me and let me know that he was okay, to which he agreed.
By mid May 2007, after having lost yet another job, he had to turn his car in because he couldn’t afford to pay it. Unfortunately, we couldn’t help him with his car since his dad had suffered a job cut also, but we did pay his cell phone bill. His girlfriend lived just a block away from Valencia Community College – East, so he was staying with her and they would walk to class. Yet his room was intact with all his belongings in it, even most of his clothes. As I always said, he never said he had moved out so for all I was concerned, my son still lived at home and his room would stay that way regardless.
Not having a car and being a student, made it difficult for him to come over more often but he continued to call, and when he didn’t, I would call him, if he didn’t answer I would call his girlfriend’s mom and ask her to have Richie call me. He hated when I did that, but all he told me was, “Mom, could you do me a favor and not call Yari’s mom, that woman is crazy!” I laughed and told him that if he promised to call every day, I wouldn’t call her and he agreed.
Richie spent “Mother’s Day” here with me. He brought me the cutest card, it had a jug of milk with a mouse inside. On the front it said, “From Your Son, whenever I run into one of life’s little problems, I just think back on all the advice you gave me.” On the inside it said, “DAMN! I wish I’d be listening, Happy Mother’s Day!” He had written, “Happy Mother’s Day from me! Richie, love ya always, Richie.” I turned towards him and said, “you really searched high and low for this card, didn’t you?” To which he responded, “yep.” I knew then and there that my son was coming to his senses.
On May 27 we received a disturbing call from Yari’s mom. It seemed that Richie had suffered a seizure at their house. They didn’t call 911 because he didn’t want to go to the hospital, but that was not an option with us. We immediately drove over, picked him up and took him to the hospital. We were there since 11:30pm until 7am the next day. The doctors found no abnormalities in the tests that they conducted. Other than migraine headaches, Richie had never suffered seizures or any other type of illness, the physician concluded that it may have been stress related and released him. We brought him home with us. He slept most of the day and woke up feeling fine. He explained that all he could remember was having a headache, he had eaten pizza for dinner, and when his girlfriend asked him to go with her to walk the dog, he said he didn’t feel good and decided to wait for her at the house. He explained that the headache was unbearable and felt dizzy and that is all he could remember. Yari walked inside the house to find him lying on the living room floor having a seizure, she called her mom and her mom called us.
He didn’t want to stay home, he wanted to see his girlfriend and asked that we take him to East Orlando, so we did. Now he didn’t have a phone. While having the seizure, it seems he fell on top of his cell phone and it broke, but he would always find a way to call me. He would sometimes call me at work just because. I remember that when I answered the phone he would always say, “Hi” in a singing tone, I never had to ask who it was, I knew that was Richie.
Being the only one in the household with a job, it was hard for me to get Richie a new phone and maintain an entire household and the fact that it was so difficult for me to contact Richie was not letting me sleep. I needed to know if my son was okay, if he was eating, if he was sick, if he needed anything. I would constantly tell him to stay at home and just use our cars, whichever car was available, just use one of them but stay here in the safety of your own home. He would complain about the far drive and how he would sometimes have to drive with a headache so he preferred to take the bus, “lynx it,” like he would say.
On Tuesday, July 3, he called me to see if he could borrow one of our cars to take Yari to the beach on July 4. Of course we agreed and he said he would pick it up the next day. I asked if he wanted me to pick him up but he declined, he said he would take the bus. On Wednesday, July 4, he called at 9am to let me know he was on his way, he was using his girlfriend’s cell phone, he had dropped her off at work and would be here soon. However, by 11:30am, I decided to call him because he had not arrived. At that time, he was at the Osceola Square Mall waiting for the bus to depart, again, I asked if he wanted me to pick him up and he said, he didn’t want to wait out there for me and that he would call for me to pick him up once he got to the Wal-Mart on Hwy 27. At around 12 noon Richie calls and I picked him up at the Wal-Mart bus stop. I’ll never forget that day, he was wearing shorts with a white shirt and was carrying a bag. I don’t remember our small talk on the way from Wal-Mart to the house but it was probably less than five minutes. Once inside the house, I remember placing my purse in my bedroom and, as I walked out of my room, he was coming towards me, I don’t know why but my instinct was to hug him, and I did. I threw my arms around him and just hugged him so tightly that I didn’t want to let go, he hugged me back for a long, long, time, however, when he released his arms, I didn’t, so he hugged me again, I just held on to him. When we let go he asked, “What’s the big hug for?” To which I replied, “I don’t know, it’s just that I don’t get to see you that often,” and we sat down to chat. He told me how he had changed his major to Business Administration so that he could go into the family business. We had been talking about selling the house and opening our own business. He sat down on his dad’s recliner next to mine and just talked to us. He was showing off his new sneakers and I remember telling him that he needed to trim his hair, he responded he knew it but didn’t have the money to do it. “Come on over next week after pay day and I will take you to get a hair-cut. I remember him saying, “No you won’t.” I spoke to him about staying home and using our cars, “we will work around schedules,” but he declined saying it was too far and he didn’t want to drive while having a headache. “So you prefer riding around a bunch of strangers in a bus,” I said. “At least I won’t have to worry about getting in accident while having a headache,” he replied. Then it was time for him to leave, I gave him a $25 Chick-fil-A gift card that I had purchased for him, and $20 which was all I had in my purse that day. I gave him a big hug, told him I loved him, and to remember that this was his house. That was the last time I saw my son alive.
He brought the car back on Friday, July 5, but I was at work so I didn’t see him. His dad took him and Yari back to East Orlando.
On Sunday, July 8, Richie called me around 8pm. He was at the bus stop waiting for the bus to arrive to take him to his friend’s house where he was staying. He was using his girlfriend’s cell phone. We chatted quite a while. He told me how great he was doing in school, how he had received his grades and they were all A’s. “You’ll see mom, I am going to make you proud of me,” he said. “I am already proud of you,” I replied, to which he said, “I’ll make you even more prouder.” He mentioned that he had an interview the next day with a gasoline station and at Target as “stocker.” He told me about his plans of getting an apartment for him and Yari because her sister raised her rent from $250 p/m to $500. “We could find an apartment for about that amount for ourselves” he added. He even spoke about commitment to her. It occurred to me to have them come live with us while they were in college, but I needed to consult with my husband before I took that step, and being that mine was the only income at the time, I wasn’t sure we could afford it, so I said nothing. However, I kept insisting on him coming home. I told him, he had everything here – food, your own room, phone, use of the cars, etc., just come home, but again, he declined. He wanted to be close to Yari. We spoke about other things while he waited, then he announced that the bus had arrived and he had to leave. “Remember, this is your home and I love you, Richie,” I said, to which he replied, “I love you too, Mom.” Those were the last words my son said to me. That was a conversation that I will never forget.
