Hello Bring It Community

I wonder if you’ve brought it today? I don’t think I have at all & in fact after getting an email from one of my oldest friends I was really hit hard about Dom’s situation. I’m sure many of you have had that when you felt you had everything together & then you were just hit from the blindside with a rush of emotion. I thought the best thing I could do is write a little & share a bit with some loved ones.

Dom had this infectious laughter and joy, it was conditional though, and he had to really be excited about something. Dom didn’t have the “fake-it” gene in him. Recently I spent some time thinking about some of my favorite times with him & one in particular came to mind. It may seem trivial to you but it means something to me.

One year I decided to have a party to kick off the NFL season -- this was like 4mns of Christmas for Dom & myself (like many 20-somethings) – and we decided to do something to honor the first Sunday. I threw a Waffles & Beer party – don’t over think it – we had waffles & beer as the games kicked off. These may be a lethal combination but for a couple guess in their early 20s, this was a matter of putting two delicious treats together & enjoy. A no-brainer. The excitement he had leading up to that Sunday; calling me & asking what he could bring (of note: buffalo wings, Titos Pizza Bites & Poppers all started here), always asking me how many waffles I could finish by half time, actually sending me unsolicited emails about the party. Once the party started Dom was in heavy – all his favorites were there, including Kelly & Will, and they all started to harassing me about my homemade salsa. He decided it was too chucky to be called salsa & too liquidy for guacamole, so he combined the words to “gu-sla.” It still lives on today & just the belly laugh he gave that day in the creation of that word with Kelly & Will will always stay with me.

(Important note – he woke up that night after he left & got sick. Be careful if you want to throw your own Waffles & Beer party. BUT he did have an incredible time & made my day for being such a fun person to chill with)

Thanks for letting me get that out there. – Marshall