More pix found of Raul

I found some new pix of Raul in my old boxes




Don't know who the girls were but Raul jumped in to take a pic while we were on vacation in Virginia Beach.


Hooters while on vac at Virginia Beach











Raul and I in front of my porch in Brooklyn, 1991















Raul and I in front of his Camaro, 1991








Raul on vacation at Seaworld



Raul's Faze1 adorned with the Puerto Rican flag

Charges have been brought against the driver, Dominique Brice

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/may/19/charges-brought-against-driver-who-hit-killed-2-mo/

Raul saved my life

Greetings all,

To those of you who don't know me please know this, Raul was a brother to me as much as my sisters were. I consider Henry, Scott, and Pablo my family and closer than friends. Eddie, even though he's my cousin he is much more. Tony and Sue are the cool, younger godparents that Raul and I always wanted. There are others that I've known for many years like Jeff, Karin, Gordon and Jay (Andrew) but Raul and I had a special connection.

Raul saved my life.

I mean that literally and figuratively. One day on vacation, I decided to jump in a pool without actually knowing how to swim. I still don't know actually. Well, there was no lifeguard that day so Raul had to jump in and save me. I almost took him down with me as I swallowed water, he then decided to shove me towards the side of the pool. 3 shoves later, I was pulling myself out of the pool. I owe my life to Raul.

He was always at my side through thick and thin. When my dad died, when we put my cat to sleep, every Christmas, Thanksgivings, birthdays, graduations, cutting high school, picking up girls... you name it. Without Raul and others there helping to guide my life who knows where I would have ended up.

Lastly, I want to discuss his infectious laugh only because I have to. You all remember his laugh, but honestly after 22 years I sometimes cringed.. it was like those old married couples who are so used to each other. You see, at times Raul used that laugh to avoid being serious when he needed to be.. it was his defense mechanism. Very few of us ever saw Raul being geniunely serious, sad or pissed off (which Eddie had a knack for in spades to piss Raul off... remember the chicken nuggets?). I would like to continue typing but I can't so I'll finish off quickly.

I love you Raul.

Marc Irizarry

Big Dog's blog at TradeKing

I linked to this earlier below but just in case you didn't see it

http://community.tradeking.com/members/bigdog/blogs/5799-terrible-loss-at-tk

A Blessing From Up Above

Hello All,

Raul was the one I would call when I needed a laugh. There was always a way to turn a disastrous situation into a long hard laugh when you were speaking to him. I have gone through some pretty tough times lately and Raul was always there to shine a nice light on them even when there were no answers.

I tried to be there for Raul as much as I could knowing that the rest of his family and friends were so far away and I lived just a half an hour away here in South Florida. I wasn't the greatest friend to him by any stretch of imagination, but I would like to think that I made him feel at home with a nice couch to sit on and always a big place at the table with my family.

When I got my new TV, Raul came by and I told him I was going to wait for a friend of mine to return from vacation to set it up as I am not that good at that stuff. Raul was like HELL NO, we are setting that S__T up right now! So we pulled out the TV, surround sound and all and we set it up! Here we are doing a sound check in my living room at 1:30 in the morning to Superman Returns rolling on the floor as my wife and kid are passed out in the bedrooms! We watched the whole thing in awe until it was over and the boxes and all the stuff were all over the place! It was something I will never forget. The last time Raul was at my house (2 weeks ago) we went shopping for Raul's tv but we didn't end up buying one.

I have to laugh everytime I look at my car too because Raul came with me to pick it out. We initially went to Carmax to get my car, but Raul said that I needed them to give me new tires with the car as well and we fought with the guy till we were blue in the face and finally we just went to a different dealer and got a different car.

The hardest times I ever laughed in my life included Raul, Marc, Henry, & Eddie. Either we were ripping on Eddie (Sorry Eddie), watching movies together (American Pie, Dumb and Dumber) or just hanging out at one another's houses, we always had a laugh that brought tears to our eyes. PAUSE THE MOVIE RAUL, PAUSE IT!!! The times that we had together shaped the person I am today and I wouldn't trade any of it for the world.

Thank you Raul, my blessing from up above. Your kind advice and contagious laughter have made me so happy to have lived on this earth and I will never forget you. I told you two weeks ago that God had wonderful plans for you and I was right because you have gone to be with the Lord where you will rest in peace and watch over your friends in death as you always did in life. I love you brother.

Please send what you have

Please send me any pics you might have, contact info for folks who don't know, etc etc.

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Check back frequently at the photo site to see new photos.

Marc

Photos of Raul

In memory of Raul