The Chris Patterson Outstanding Student Award

I have never felt as helpless in my life as I did standing in the ICU watching my brother's vitals drop slowly over the matter of an hour. There was nothing I could do to nurse him back to health. There was no sum of money I could have paid, no highly specialized medical team I could have sought out. For someone who feels like I have control over most aspects of my life, this situation just made me want to scream into eternity. I'm sure if I felt helpless there is no telling how my parents felt. As I reflect over that day in particular and those 3 weeks during which my brother was in the hospital, I realize that as much control I think I might have over everything in my life, God is ultimately who has the control. For reasons that I will never know or understand, November 27, 2009 was Chris' last day on earth.

There were several times over those 3 weeks in the hospital that the doctors saved Chris from death, and there was even a time that my family and his friends surrounded his bedside and literally cheered him onto higher vitals. But as I reflect, I think those moments where doctors and family attempted to revive Chris were a delay of God's ultimate plan.

I don't know why Chris' life on earth was so short but it's what I do know about Chris' life that makes the loss of him easier to handle. The more I think about him, his nature, the person he was and the lives he impacted the more I realize that Chris accomplished more in 32 years than some people have accomplished in 98.

My mom told me the other day that Chattahoochee Valley Community College, where Chris dedicated his life work to guiding students and giving them direction in obtaining their degrees, has created a new award to be given out at each graduation. The Chris Patterson Outstanding Student Award will be awarded for the first time in May. Chris' legacy continues to live on and I'm so proud of my big brother for all that he accomplished in his short life. This award in his memory is evidence of it. To think that 20 years from now I can attend a CVCC graduation and watch as someone accepts the Chris Patterson Outstanding Student Award with pride makes my heart smile.