9/11

9/11~ I don't think you could ask anybody in America, or even in the world for that matter, what comes to mind when you say 9/11...it left a lasting impact on everyone who was able to remember that day and I really do believe it changed everything as we know it...the freedoms we once cherished are slowly being eroded away, all in the name of anti-terrorism and BS like that...on another note, 9/11 was a tragic day for some close friends of mine for it was the day we lost a good friend, Tyler Bingham. It was also the same day I miscarried a baby so we got hit with a double-whamy for sure.

This was back in 2007 and Jason and I have known Tyler since HS and he was the person to sell us our very first cell phone! He was the cell phone king, just ask anybody who was close to him~ he had opened up a kiosk to sell his phones and eventually opened up a small store to sell cell phone accessories, called, What Phones Want, in the Cottonwood Mall (the very first mall in America, peeps!). By this time pretty much all of the stores were closed down in this mall as it was getting ready to be torn down to rebuild a new one. But nevertheless, Tyler was so proud of his store-ful of accessories and the last memory I have of him is him showing us the latest greatest cell phone, the iPhone! I had never seen anything like this and he just couldn't get enough showing us all of its cool features.

Tyler was building a house out in our neighborhood we are in now~ he and Jason were trying to work on some business ventures together and he wanted to build a house out here for equity to eventually sell for a profit. He ended up picking out the exact same floor plan as we were going to build and we never planned that one out, it was so funny...great minds think alike, I guess ;) So the last time we saw him was out in our neighborhood over at his lot and they had the foundation already completed and he was walking around the whole span of it, wearing his dress shoes and dress clothes...it just reminded me of his child-likeness and I thought it was great he could be all spiffied up but didn't mind getting some dust on his clothes :)

He hadn't met our kids yet up until then and he made a funny remark that we had produced "Aryian" children, I guess because of how good-looking they were, lol! I was like, what, are we too ugly to have produced these handsome brood of boys that you just can't believe we'd have the perfect race of children??" It was funny, you'd have to know Tyler's sense of humor to find this humorous!

He was showing us his brand new cherry-red Audi S4 he had just gotten and revved up the engine to show off for our boys...then he sped off around the corner and we never saw him alive again after that...it was so sad...especially having to constantly be reminded of him everytime I'd drive by and see his house just sitting there knowing he'd never be living in it.

There are a couple of speculations about how he died and I won't go into detail, but let's just say the way it all happened and the way he was found was just very tragic, and not the way you want to remember someone having to lose their life in that way.

On a good note, his birthday is mine and Jason's anniversary and I am so glad we can share our special day in memoriam of him. I'm so glad to have known him, even if it was such a short time. He was one of those guys that always made you feel like you were the coolest person on the planet and always was upbeat and funny, even though he may have been battling his own demons.

So in these pictures, we finally went up to his gravesite to visit him...3 years after he passed and it was such a beautiful day, warm sun, and it felt so peaceful there. I was glad I could take my boys to visit him and I hope that Tyler knew we were there thinking about him, knowing we won't ever forget him. Rest in Peace, my friend...I know one day we will hug again.