Tomache Vargas
it's almost been a week since we laid my friend to rest. i am still numb. JRV was my absolute best friend in the Navy. we had been together in some way, shape or form since about the summer of '91. we had multiple Navy schools together, lived in the same apartment complex, served on the same Submarine together, worked at the same place (3 times total), my wife and i are Godparents to his children. if there was someone that was a brother to me but not by blood, it was him. we had many happy times, over the years, multiple disagreements, even some heated arguments, but there was always our deep friendship. i think i last spoke with him sometime in May, and i was set to call him in about another week and a half for what would have been his birthday. i have been burying a lot of people in recent years, and i thought i had no more tears to shed, but with Jose it seems like they have been refreshed, and they can't stop. my heart is truly broken at the loss of my friend. to think it all started so many years ago, before either one of us was married, by me knocking on his barracks door to borrow $20. "Sure Dude" was his reply. he was easy-going. basically brilliant in our jobs that we shared together, and he made sure that i (and the rest of our division) knew our jobs. he once told one of our sailors "How can you expect to do your job when you don't know sh*t?" then he would take a sip of his coffee. i miss my friend, i will miss my friend. one thing we would always say to each other was that we were "awesome". it later became "hey man, you know right?", "yeah, i know" was our answer to each other. i will miss that too. i'll leave everyone with this...if you want to know how silly he was, just watch the SNL - Chris Farley Columbian Coffee Crystals video. he and i would laugh until we were in tears at that one. Rest well my friend. We have the Watch.