Andrew L. Carlson - Obituary

ndrew Leland Carlson was born in Washington, DC in 1991. He is survived by his parents, Eric and Lois, his older sister and brother, Anna, and Stephen. He lived his whole life in Edgewater, MD. After gaining his GED, he attended Anne Arundel Community College for a few semesters. Not finding his future in book learning, he quickly became interested in working with his hands doing yard care and tree removal, construction and anything mechanical that was needing repair around his home. Though he struggled hard with finding his niche in this world, his greatest love was being with his family and friends. As a teen, he had several friends that he thoroughly enjoyed being with: Jason Ennis, Brian Potter and Jonathan Carr. In his adult life, his last friendship and, I feel deepest, was with Trevor Boothby whom they spend many a day dismantling huge trees and mowing lawns. I want to honor these young men with words of deep gratitude for the joy they brought to our son, Andrew. Andrew loved his family. Loved being part of all of our activities from going camping every summer at Trap Pond State Park, DE, to our yearly trips to his grandparents’ home in Myrtle Beach, SC. Riding together on our many day trips in the family station wagon, then Lumina and finally our Toyota Sienna, epitomizes our love for one another. (And, yes, this intense love for each other carried us through the struggles brought on by the intense nature of Andrew’s character and his war with alcohol, drugs and depression as we traveled together as a family in these sorrows and hardships.) [Anna and Stephen: Know that Andrew loved and still loves you dearly, deeply regretting the sorrow he brought to your lives. He knows you love him, too.] Though out his short but fast-paced life, Andrew fought hard for 14 years to win over the inner demons that plagued him. Demons that I would have succumbed to early on. He never gave up. He ran on hope that he could attain his dreams of a marriage and family of his own one day by attaining the work skills necessary to do so. I believe in his final days there was a diminishing flicker of this hope and that this was what drove him to seek and become his final attempt to find some solace from his inner demons. Though he passed on to his new life in the next dimension, I do not feel overly sad as he gave this life experience his all. Those who knew the “true” Andrew, experienced his deeply loving and serving nature. He was our “Christmas” child. He had to have the yearly fresh-cut Christmas tree stay up through his January 14th birthday. He bounded (literally, too) with a vivacious energy that I wish I could have bottled and taken daily. He served his family in the ways that reflected his nature by cooking dinners for his family, mowing the lawn and trimming the trees, vacuuming the house. This he all did spontaneously and willingly. Bottomline: He has an inner goodness this world could not corrupt. We invite those who knew Andrew to come to his Memorial service at the Selby-on-the-Bay Clubhouse, Edgewater, MD, July 28th, at 1:00 pm, a place he spend many a happy summer swimming as a child. I especially invite those young men who befriended our Andrew as being with you contain many of these happy highlights during his younger years. In lieu of flowers, please donate to a local rehab facility like Hope House, Crownsville, MD; or plant a tree or bush in Andrew's honor any place.