The fam on film

This picture was taken last Christmas. I remember it so well. Since I moved to California late in 2006, I missed seeing Tyler every day. We used to hang out together on our afternoon breaks at Sallie Mae. So, every time he came out to visit, I was elated!!! We always had such a great time together, no matter what we were doing. Some of us would tease him about photos of him because he tended to close his eyes, or only one eye. After a while, he started doing it on purpose, like in this photo. He was always goofy, even when he was being serious...if that makes any sense. Those of you who knew him well probably know what I mean.

We brought back a bunch of photos Tyler had on his computer and Martine was going through some more photos today while I was getting ready for work. She found some videos he had taken of us (Ty, my dad, Ginny and me) decorating the Christmas tree last year. I remember that evening so well. We had music playing and wine breathing while we riddled the tree with ornaments; some new, some old and some ancient. When we were done, we toasted our masterpiece and sat in front of the fire, chatting. I cried as I watched the four of us milling around the tree, joking with each other and humming to the tunes playing in the background. I laughed too when he winked into the camera before setting it down on the mantle to record our tree-decorating event. Watching those videos made me miss him so very much. It is going to be so hard to be without him this coming holiday season and on what would have been his 37th birthday in January. Who am I kidding? It's going to be hard to be without him every day, for the rest of my life.