I have close a friend who has been serving in Afghanistan for the last 3 months. He has literally left a job where he was serving our country to another one where he continues to serve our country but in a different form.  He leaves behind a beautiful wife and a daughter who is just over a year old. We thought it would be a nice idea if we could send some photographs to him of his beautiful family for Memorial Day. I have known Erick since I was about 12 years old and I will never forget the circumstances that brought us together. It was a Thursday morning and we both arrived at the school bus stop a little late. After standing around for 10 minutes or so we realized that we missed the bus. I was planning on going back home and calling my parents to tell them that I missed the bus. Erick tells me he knows of a short cut and we can get to school before 8:30 which is the time school started. So I take his advice and we start to walk to school together. Of course his short cut takes us through the woods and to make a long story short we did arrive at the school but not until 11:30am. 3 hours to walk 2 miles but to Erick’s credit we did get there but lets just say his idea of a short cut could use some refining.

Over the course of the years there have been numerous similar situations such as telling me while we are in D.C ” You can park here I park here all the time” and yeah like a dummy I listened only to come back to the car later to see a white slip of paper on my dashboard indicating that once again my know it all best friend does not know what he is talking about at times. I remember when school was out for the summer, before wifi gaming was accessible I would actually bring over my 32 inch screen television and my playstation to his house so we could play war games against each other. But I also remember that he had given me my first real camera a Canon EOS rebel which I currently still own and I used it for photography class my Junior and Senior year of high school. I remember Erick installing a new stereo and speakers in my car because I could not do it. I remember even though we would joke and make fun of each we always had each others backs when it came down to it. I cherish all of those memories and experiences today because those experiences have made our friendship what it is today.

As you can see Erick has a beautiful wife and a little girl and they are waiting patiently for his return. Be safe bro and we are all looking forward to seeing you when you get back this year especially these 2 beautiful women below.