This picture was taken one night in the dorms. It was a 50's party. Yeah, we looked ridiculous. But, it was still fun. Charles is on the left, Kevin is in the middle, and I'm on the right. Charles was the type of guy who would bring over a few beers if you were feeling down. Then, he would organize a party around you. He was always wanting to do more.

I met Charles his first year of college when I went down to my old room to see who had taken it over. We invited him to join our beginning of the year party. A family was instantly born. Needless to say, we pretty much partied almost every weekend. When it was his second year, Charles went down to meet the guy who had taken over his & mine old dorm room. He walked in as if he knew the guy his entire life and invited him to join our family. He was always wanting to do more.

When he enlisted, he had a good job, a beautiful fiance, a nice home, and a great future. Still, he wanted to do more. When asked why he enlisted despite having everything going great for him, he replied that he couldn't stand the thought of some other guy enlisting with a wife and kids. That, folks, was the type of person Charles was. That is why these past few days have been so hard.

I've been trying to get a hold of our other friend who enlisted. He's in Louisiana training for Iraq. He'll be deployed in November. We are attempting to see if he could be pulled off the field for the funeral. He got the message last night. He called me and was crying. Then, all of the same emotions from the first day hit me again. He asked me to call his mom and to see if she could contact the Red Cross messenger to see if he could get a pass for the weekend to attend the funeral. I did that. Tonight is the wake. Tomorrow, the funeral. We're not sure if he's going to be able to make it in time. I'm not too upset if he can't make it. The reason is because he's training to survive. I've already lost one close friend. I don't want to lose another. Still, it would be nice to have him there.

As for me, I'm doing better. I have to. Today is Gwennie's 8th birthday. We're going to take her out to pick out a present. Then, we're throwing her a party.