It was a Sunday like any other, making breakfast, picking up the house, getting ready to start another week, when my phone rang. And on the other end was my best friends voice sobbing. Julia and I have been friends for over twenty years. We have gone through college, job changes, relationships, and babies together. Days and weeks would go by sometimes without connecting, and we would make plans that may or may not work out due to life and raising kids, but when we finally would get together it was like no time had passed. This day was different. Her voice on the other end was inconsolable and I knew something was terribly wrong. Her words will never leave me, “He didn’t wake up”. Her husband Colin had gone to bed that evening, and never woke up. We found out yesterday that he had an unknown heart condition, and he passed peacefully. From that moment on, her whole world has been turned upside down, her whole family forever changed. Colin was the love of her life, her protector, her safe space, and in the blink of an eye, he passed. He was a devoted husband, and the best Daddy to Salem and Cosmo. He loved his family with his whole heart. He worked hard every day to allow Julia to stay home with the kids. He was the Dad that would get up to change them in the middle of the night when they were infants, was on the floor playing legos for hours with Cosmo, or doing a dance routine with Salem because he knew all the moves, folding laundry, building playhouses or sandboxes. Whatever his family needed, he was there. And now, he cant be here. But I know, he would never want his family to struggle, never want his family to go through hard times. We have created this fundraiser to help his family. The funds will be used to cover funeral expenses, bills, and household expenses. Any additional funds will go to helping Julia continue raising her two babies as a single mama. She has not asked for this, but the people that care about her the most feel it will give her a good start to their future.
I will also provide her venmo if you prefer to donate to her directly.
@Julia-Burmahl
Thank you all ❤️❤️
Rheannon, Niki, and Danielle
 
“Grief is like the ocean; it comes on waves ebbing and flowing. Sometimes the water is calm, and sometimes it is overwhelming. All we can do is learn to swim.” - Vicki Harrison