I’m heading back to Maryland for a few days next week and it reminds me of Carmen.

Will the ache in my soul ever go away? Will the pain cease to catch me off-guard randomly? Will I ever not choke up or get that lump in my throat when I re-watch videos like this one?

When I examine the present and look to the future, I am indeed hopeful.

But when I look to the past, I am still sad. Very, very sad.

I can’t wait to see her again.

Lana,

Was it yesterday when we met each other? Was it only a day ago when we were strolling around the loop at LeTourneau, chatting merrily as we became friends on those balmy, Texas nights? Surely it was just yesterday when you looked at me and said, “I guess so,” when I asked you to be my girlfriend. It had to be only yesterday when we drove to Florida and back for our Honeymoon. We enjoyed that amazing hangar steak at CC Whittaker in St Louis just yesterday, right? It had to be yesterday when we pranced around Rome looking for that one place that had the insanely great gelato. Wasn’t it? Was it yesterday when we drove to the hospital through a blizzard and returned home a few days later with our beautiful Lauren? Wasn’t it yesterday when we landed in Guatemala and gazed at our princess, Carmen, for the very first time? Or when we found out that she was going to die much too soon? Was it yesterday when Hope bounced into our lives? Or when we said goodnight to Carmen for the last time on earth? Was it yesterday when we moved from MD to CA?

Where did the time go and how did it pass so quickly?

Wherever it’s gone, I am so thankful that I’ve spent the past 17 years with you. We’ve had our ups. We’ve had our downs. We’ve gone through great times and, well, pretty horrible times too. We’ve thrived and struggled.

You’ve always been there.

We love you, Mom!

Your girls are so fortunate to have you as their mom. And I’m so lucky to have you as my wife.

I pray for a great many more yesterdays with you by my side!

With all my love,

Dave

***

For this week’s “More About You Monday” question, will you please wish Lana a very Happy 36th Birthday?

After the church service on Sunday, we went out to lunch with our pastor, his wife, son and daughter-in-law.

***

I’ve never met anyone who can ask questions as well as my mother. Sometimes, it can be annoying — like when you are trying to tell her a story and she wants to know every single detail and all you want to do is get to the crescendo. But most of the time, you can’t help but walk away from a conversation with my mom and think, I sure did talk about myself a lot! Or, if you’re an observer of a conversation with my mom but are not the recipient of her questions, you walk away thinking, I sure did learn a lot about that person.

My mom doesn’t seem interested in talking about herself that much. She’s far more interested in learning about you. She’s genuinely interested in the details of your life.

***

As we drove out of the parking lot of that local Mexican restaurant last Sunday, Lana and I agreed; we sure did talk about ourselves a lot. We certainly didn’t plan to talk so much but the questions just kept on coming.

Our pastor and his family seem to be a lot like my mom. They asked question after question, trying to get to know who we are.

***

Some people get the art of the question. People like my mom. People like our pastor and his family. They are masters!

I want to be like them.

I just need to set the record straight. She’s better than me!

At one point, I was probably a better photographer than Lana from a creative perspective (composition, angles, etc.). But she’s always been better than me technically (focus, exposure, etc.). With hard work and lots of practice, I think Lana’s caught up creatively and, as such, is a much better photographer than me today, even though neither of us are where we want to be yet.

Don’t get me wrong. I really appreciate the compliments people occasionally make about our photos and can understand why some of you think that I create them, considering that I created many of the early photos on the site and have created all the videos to-date.

However, many  — I would say well over half — of the photos posted on this site were created by Lana. It’s probably even more than that in recent months as I’ve been really busy with work.

So if you like a photo, be sure to aim your compliments at Lana. Most likely, she created it!

I just thought you should know.

The video above was created by North Point Media.