In Iraq Chris has this particularly gross solider in his platoon who had serious personal hygiene issues.  It is awkward trying to solve these issues, so Chris came to his fellow officers seeking advice on how to handle it and in the course of the conversation described the Soldier's overly long, dirty toenails to us as "talons," as Chris pronounced it "tay-lons."  Listening to Chris describe that guy's gross toenails had us doubled over with laughter. 

I was in my late teens when I had my daughter, so I still lived at home as did Chris. Him and my daughter, who is now 15,had a very special bond. He loved her so much. Well I remember when she was a baby she would often get really bad diaper rashes. One time Chris was helping out with her and she happened to need her diaper changed. Well he knew she needed diaper cream so he got a spatula and applied the diaper cream on that way lol.

When we were little and well into our teen years, our parents would take us on a yearly vacation to Treasure Island, Florida. We would stay at a place called the Sand Pebble. I remember one summer while on vacation at the Sand Pebble, I was sleeping on the pull out couch. Chris had come over to me in the middle of the night and woke me up from a deep sleep saying boggit. That is something he would always say to me when we were younger as he knew it was something that annoyed me, yet made me laugh every time because I had know idea what he was talking about when he said that. Honestly I still don’t, but that was so him. He was always so funny with the things he would come up with.

I always had lots of fun memories of Chris that have and never will be forgotten. Some of the favorites of Jim's and mine were when we would sleep over our Nana and PopPops  house on Saturday nights and we would all: Ken, Chris, Jim, Laura, and I sat around after our parents left us and eat bowls and bowls of cereal together and dont forget about the fruit roll ups. I remember one time Chris got out the dog treats, we all thought he was nuts and he ate one and then we all took a bite of one after. We were all nuts! We were always a team and loved being with one another. We would shoot pool and ring this triangle bell that was there. Chris would go through some boxes that were under the pool table and in one were lots of air freshener sprays and he would spray them all over. We would all be coughing over the smell.  He also would want to check out the other room that was down there but it was always dark. Then we would stay up late playing Nintendo and  he would make these noises like something was blowing up and would talk about "cigarette butts". We would watch Knight Rider or Air wolf and  talk about silly things. Chris would count how many times Nana's cuckoo clock would go off. We laughed so much it was great! I liked his laugh. On Sunday we went to church with our Nana and then she always took us to McDonald's afterwards.  Chris always got chicken nuggets and fries and like 20 packets of ketchup. He would say that was his "specialty." He would use all of them. We miss our cousin so much and always will

One time when Chris was about 3 or 4 I took him and my nephew Bill out for the day and one of the stops was the mall While at the mall with the two boys I had to buy some bra’s, boring for the boys so to combat his boredom Chris started poking at the bra’s while singing and dancing boobies,boobies,boobies. While I was very embarrassed he just looked at me and started laughing telling me it was fun. He could takeboring things and make it fun. One of my most tresasured memories.

Chris always had a wave and smile, whether coming or going in his car or mowing the lawn. But one night while putting out the trash Chris was walking Little Bit and his wave and smile turned into a few hours of talking. It was such a pleasure to talk to a wonderful young man.

Summertime in the mid 1980’s. An inflatable pool was bought and the cardboard box was on the concrete patio floor. The cardboard box presented a picture of glistening water in the pool. Chris decided to dive into that cardboard pool from a picnic table. I can’t believe no injuries were sustained. He was fearless

Tee ball.... Chris was playing outfield and not getting any action. Solution!!! Create a small diamond on the ground and pretend to get hits and run the bases on that small diamond.. His own baseball game