Never Forgotten

It is hard to know where to start with this post as my heart is heavy and my eyes are filled with tears. This picture was taken at Jonathan and Adrian's graduation from Basic Training in Fort Jackson, South Carolina in the summer of 2001, right before they started their senior year.

Jonathan and Adrian have been friends for as long as I can remember. They went to the same schools together, were in scouts together, played sports together and shared the same obsessions with anything that involved the Great Outdoors.

One thing was for sure, if the two of them were together, there was sure to be laughter involved. Man they loved to laugh and make others laugh with and at them.

Adrian joined the National Guard and it wasn't long before Jonathan was signing up too. What a day it was when they left together for basic training. One of many emotional yet proud moments our families shared together.

In January of 2005 their unit was deployed to Afghanistan. Adrian was still in flight school but was able to catch up with them shortly after they arrived over there. I remember Adrian coming to the house to tell us goodbye right before he left and how excited he was to go. It was hard to not get caught up in his enthusiasm as he was so EXCITED to be heading over there and to get the chance to fly, you see, he was living his dream. If only I had known that would be the last hug I would ever get to give him. The boys were stationed in different places over there and didn't get to see each other too often, but they chatted often and when they were on base together they sure made up for lost time. Jonathan would call home and just laugh and the stunts they would pull together. They were so excited that they were going to get to come home together for Christmas for their leave..........................that would never happen.

September 25th, 2005. The phones began ringing early that day that a Chinook had gone down. All day we waited, making several calls to the Stumps and no one had heard anything. When we finally did get a call all they could tell us was that Jonathan was okay, and they couldn't tell us anything about anyone else. When we finally did get a call telling us that Adrian had been killed on the Chinook I remember getting mad at the person who called and telling them it was a lie. When she told me she heard it from his grandma I remember falling into Mark's arms and weeping uncontrollably....why? This wasn't suppose to happen, No! Not Adrian! And then the pain we felt for his family, and the pain we felt for our son, who we were not able to get in contact with for several days. So much of that time is a blur for us, yet the pain is so real, even today.

So today, on the second anniversary, we remember you Adrian. You will always be in our hearts and we will never forget you. It is still hard to find comfort and answers, but if there is one thing I know it is that Adrian was living his dream. I don't know how many of us can really say that.

I look at my own life and think about my own passions and dreams and if I am pursuing them in the same way. What am I waiting for? Maybe now is a good time to do some soul searching, to really reflect on who I am and what it is I want to be, what I want to accomplish, set goals and work towards them. Not just let life pass me by. And most importantly, neve wait until tomorrow to tell someone you love them. We never know how many tomorrows we really do have.