From Victor Hernandez

“The only ones for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, BURN, like fabulous roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes 'AWWW!'”

Jack Kerouac On The Road.

Nick, 

From the start I knew that this life would be far to tight a fit for you, far too small a vessel to contain all that you seemed to everyone to be. We entered our formidable years together, and attacked them with such fervor and tenacity that sometimes it seemed we would surely perish through youthful stupidity. We tested ourselves everyday. How far? How fast? How long? How many? We invented rites of passage and rituals for others to earn a place at the table. We forged a tribe and a family that as I write this are mourning the loss of their brother. Before we bled in battle in the same desert, we knew we were built tough because we had bled in parking lots. We simply knew in our youth that we were tougher than anyone else alive, and never stopped trying to prove it. We will gather soon to remember you, brother. Some will thumb through photos, some will watch videos, but a few of us will be in the back comparing scars.

I carry you with me, and will forever. I feel like our lives have paralleled each other for years. The apartment, the Army, the war, becoming chefs, settling down. It always seemed that when we spoke we were going through the same things, being tempered into tamer beasts by life, love, and time. It always felt like there was someone I could always talk to about anything, even when things got rough, because it seemed as though we were looking at the same life with two sets of eyes. And now, as your eyes close, I can feel a blindspot emerging. But I know you will always have my 6. I know you will never really be gone. You are a blindingly bright roman candle in my sky that has exploded and now will be seen forever in my mind. I will miss you, but I will never forget.