Just smile back

Ironically in almost every single photo we have together, he's standing/sitting/laying on my right side. He has been, and always will be my right hand man.

11:03pm


 Andrew Keith Carr: good point

This lady ... May I first clarify that wine does indeed bring the emotional side out in certain individuals *cough*  myself. After having an amazing dinner with amazing people, it all hit me again. I tried to nonchalantly lose my cool and wander off to the restroom. Upon my return - I understood that the group had obviously grown curious of why I had all of the sudden gotten so upset, and that Jesse had shared your story. Immediately after I sat back down, eyes clearly swollen and bloodshot, this woman put her hand on my shoulder and said, "Tough stuff, mate. But I want to give you something," as she pulled out a tiny angel wings charm. She handed it to me and said, "this had fallen off my bracelet months ago, and I've just been waiting to have it fixed, but I think it needs to go to you. It can be a reminder that he is still your guardian angel, and is always with you - where you go." I of course was hysterical at this point, and the charm now resides on my necklace, right next to the guardian angel charm you gave me yourself in middle school.

My first week in Sydney, Australia. The first day I got here, I had a beer while taking a ferry across the harbor to Manly Beach. Indeed, that is the Opera house in the back - which we visited later in the week. On my third day in Australia, we went to Coogee beach and walked along the cliff side to Bondi. It was breathtaking, to say the least. I sat in silence on one of the cliffs for a while, just staring into the ocean and understanding that you were there with me in that moment. At the end of the week, we saw A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Opera house, and then got drinks with the cast afterwards at the Opera Bar. We watched the sun fall beneath the Harbor Bridge, as I told them all your story. Each one of them was incredibly broken after hearing what had happened to you, and they absolutely wanted to be a part of your story. One of the leads gave me her script to use, upon which I wrote JUST SMILE BACK, and snapped a few awesome pictures. 

$2 White Russians on the deck of a bar in Gardiner, MT. Look at that view.

I spent a couple days in Portland, Oregon visiting a good friend from high school. She of course showed me a good time, and let me talk about you for hours as we split a bottle of wine the night I arrived. The next day we headed for the coast with her dog and met up with some friends of hers. They brought beer. 

Well, I hiked to the top of a mountain in Yellowstone. I met a few really cool girls this day and shared several hours of great conversation with them on the trail. We talked about you a lot, amongst other things. I had such a phenomenal time in Montana. I had the privilege of spending nearly an entire week with some of the most amazing people I've ever met, and it was truly a healing experience. We camped in the mountains which was so great; plus, we got free beer at a local bar in town after setting up camp. I did my first keg stand that night - 'merica.

We sought out all the Harry Potter books in the bookstore, of course. 

So this is a mural in Chicago that one of Makenzie's clients had painted the week of the services. Having known nothing about what had happened to you, and therefore knowing nothing about "just smile back". Amazingly - the most brightly colored, hugest smile ever was the outcome. After spending an awesome weekend at Marquette with Marcus and a lot of your friends from school, we made it to Chicago to spend the day with your sister. As always, she had an awesome day planned for us as soon as we got there. She took us to the mural, which turned out to be even better than she had first described, and then took us to the park located right behind the mural. That's the three of us in the park spelling out AKC in traditional fashion. The man who painted the mural also has permission from the city to paint/do whatever within the park. Of course, after hearing the news, he offered the idea to Makenzie about painting everything brightly colored in your honor. Dope, I know. Kenz has already made the plans for some folks from Greencastle and from Marquette to come up in September and brighten the place up. There's talk of a potential plaque in dedication to you, as well. How cool - Keith park.

Poolside in Phoenix with my amazing Mama. Cheers, bud.

One night Keith and I stayed up compiling a list of all the things we hated, and were going to make a video listing them off. We got the idea from Tosh.O or some other show we had watched that night, and thought it was hilarious. We of course made the list, but failed miserably at making the video because we couldn't stop laughing. I streamed a couple of the clips together, and as you can see - there's no way it was happening like we planned.