12.05.05
Posted in Memories at 6:17 pm by lhamrick
One of my fondest memories of Lucas is a day that he came over to the Coosa River and went kayaking with us. I had met him a few years before, when I was in design school with Rachel. We all immediately became friends; anyone who knew him was immediately enamored by his smile, and sweet, sweet spirit.
We got to the river, and Lucas, Rachel, Van and myself put on the water to begin our extended adventure. Lucas had never been in a decked kayak before, but was bound and determined to rise to the challenge. The Coosa is a class 2-3 river in Alabama, and has 5 rapids on the section below Jordan Dam(the section we were paddling). I am pretty sure that Lucas flipped over and swam at every single rapid. It was so funny. Watching Lucas do just about anything was enertaining, but this took the cake. His long arms and tall body in that huge boat, and the look of panic each time just before flipping over. Despite the setbacks, which entailed him having to swim with his boat(completely full of water) to the bank each time, dump out the water, and then climb back in, he never stopped smiling. He had the best attitude all day and never got discouraged. When we got off the river, he made the comment that he thought he could see his improvement throughout the day, and couldn’t wait to go again.
I will never forget his great attitude, his fervor for life, and his amazing smile. I can’ t wait to see that smile again someday…I love you and miss you, Lucas.
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12.02.05
Posted in Memories at 12:29 pm by Dayna Mullins
In the past year I’ve become obsessed with Alabama’s Song of the South. When I moved to New York Tarlie introduced me to the song (how I spent the first 20+ years of my life without it is beyond me), and I always request it at this “karaoke” bar that we go to. In any case, I just read one of Tarlie’s posts and she says it’s one of Lucas’ favorites!! No wonder I love it! I’m going to think of him every time I hear it, and I’m going to make it my “motivate before I go out” tune from here on out. Here’s to you Lucas…we love you!
Song, song of the south
Sweet potato pie and I shut my mouth
Gone, gone with the wind
There ain’t nobody looking back again
Cotton on the roadside, cotton in the ditch
We all picked the cotton but we never got rich
Daddy was a veteran, a southern democrat
They oughta get a rich man to vote like that
Sing it…
Song, song of the south
Sweet potato pie and I shut my mouth
Gone, gone with the wind
There ain’t nobody looking back again
Well somebody told us Wall Street fell
But we were so poor that we couldn’t tell
Cotton was short and the weeds were tall
But Mr. Roosevelt’s a gonna save us all
Well momma got sick and daddy got down
The county got the farm and they moved to town
Pappa got a job with the TVA
He bought a washing machine and then a Chevrolet
Sing it…
Song, song of the south
Sweet potato pie and I shut my mouth
Gone, gone with the wind
There ain’t nobody looking back again
Play it…
Sing it…
Song, song of the south
Sweet potato pie and I shut my mouth
Gone, gone with the wind
There ain’t nobody looking back again
Song, song of the south…
Gone, gone with the wind…
Song, song of the south.
Sweet potato pie and I shut my mouth.
Song, song of the south.
Sweet potato pie and I shut my mouth.
Sing it…
Song, song of the south
Sweet potato pie and I shut my mouth
Gone, gone with the wind
There ain’t nobody looking back again
Song, song of the south
Sweet potato pie and I shut my mouth
Gone, gone with the wind
There ain’t nobody looking back again
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11.29.05
Posted in Memories at 4:45 pm by JudiMom
Chance and Gabe are two years apart in age. We then waited 5 years to have Tarlie…. I knew from the instant that I was pregnant with Tarlie that there would be another baby after her because I think it is good for children to have a sibling that is close in age… 5 years being not close in my mind.
I guess I hoped for a sister for Tarlie, but once Lucas was born that really did not matter anymore I had my family with siblings to help each other. I always remember when I was pregnant with Tarlie that Gabe (as a four year old) asked once “Mom, when the baby gets here will I still be your baby?” to which I answered ” Of course, all of you will always be my babies!!” and I meant it. I think all four of them always knew I loved them as “my baby” but also as themselves.
Once they all grew up and left home Lucas was the one I introduced as “My Baby” usually to someone that did not know the family, and were surprised that I had four children and the youngest was 25 years old. It was always meant as a funny thing because as you can see Lucas had grown up to be much bigger than me.
Lucas… i love you… i miss you…. mom
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11.26.05
Posted in Memories at 2:26 pm by jlupu
I think it was Spring Break 1995 when Gabe and I headed down to Destin Florida, and on the way down we passed through Montgomery. I’ll never forget the night when the whole Harris convinced me to go hunting the following day. It was supposedly turkey season in Alabama, and being jewish and canadian it wasn’t too surprising that I was absolutely clueless about anything to do with hunting, let alone how to hunt turkey. I remember sitting in the living room with the whole family and Mr. Harris was practicing using this odd little wooden contraption which simulated a turkey call, supposedly it was meant to attract the turkey. I couldn’t stop laughing at how mad a little device it was and that everyone in the family seemed to know how to use it, and even better that some of them could simulate the turkey mating call even without that little wooden device. Lucas sat there for ages trying to teach me how to make that darn thing make any noise that even resembled a turkey mating call, never seen anyone with his patience even after he realized I was beyond hopeless.
I remember them all telling me that turkey are real sensitive to light so we had to get out to the hunting club before dawn, dressed in full camouflage of course. Mr. Harris was waking Gabe and I up at a little after 3ish so we could get on the road nice and early. Of course, this didn’t phase me or Gabe and we went out for beers in Montgomery. We were probably was asleep for no more than 2 hours, before Mr. Harris woke us both up. This was back in the day where Gabe could sleep for 15 hours at a time and not surprisingly he was having none of it and went back to bed. I was now faced with this fear that it would be just me and Mr. Harris going hunting at that ridiculous hour. But there was Lucas, crawling out of bed, hopping into the pickup truck to come along. It was like he just knew I couldn’t go it alone. Now in fairness it was pretty early and when we got to the hunting club he bailed on me and crashed in the lodge but I’ll never forget that whole day with Lucas and Mr. Harris.
Every time I hear a cool southern accent, every time I think about Gabe’s bumper sticker on his pick-up truck in college “American by Birth, Southern by the Grace of God”, I think of Lucas, I think of the Harris family and how warm and outgoing they were to me all those years.
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11.25.05
Posted in Memories at 12:07 am by abojr
Happy Thanksgiving Buddy.
I love you.
Always knew how to make someone feel special. Ill never forget that.
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11.23.05
Posted in Memories at 8:48 pm by Tarlie Harris
walter, i can close my eyes and absolutely picture the two of you truly appreciating the exchange of a solid handshake from one another, two huge grins in tow, having to say nothing else. thank you for that image, it is one i will hold on to for a long time.
tarlie
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11.21.05
Posted in Memories at 3:26 pm by Gabe Harris
Last weekend I repainted some lattice work on our front porch that Lucas fixed when he came to visit our house. I think of him everytime I see how he rigged it together.
I remember a couple years ago when I went to Atlanta looking for work. I met up with Lucas and Alan and we had gone out to a bar to see some band. Lucas and I were having a great time together and Alan started looking all depressed…When Lucas asked him what was wrong; Alan said” I wish MY brother was here”…it was hilarious at the time…and Lucas tried to make him feel better “hey man I’m like your brother come on”…
I think Lucas would have had fun watching that Auburn-Alabama game on Saturday…particularly the 11 sacks…I still can’t believe Lucas is gone. I am thankful for the website and the stories though. I check the website several times a week.
Gabe
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11.09.05
Posted in Memories at 10:24 pm by Jacob Kirkland
I lived on this little farm my senior year at Auburn located in Beauregard.. I think Lucas was taking the semester off and I was in my last semester taking easy classes so I didnt get to class too much. I have known Lucas since I was probably 10 or 11 years old. When I look back and try to figure out when I got so close to Lucas, I think of this time in Beauregard. We were good buddies in high school and the earlier years of Auburn, but this period of time stands out to me the most..
To get to my house you had to drive a pretty far way.. It was definitely out of the way. Lucas would drive out there pretty much everyday..He always would bring Foxy (these were Pre-Bear days).. One thing that Lucas and I share is that we love our dogs as much as we love our parents or any other loved one.. I would look forward to Foxy and him coming out to the farm to see Lilly and me..We would spend hours fishing (trying) and just sitting in the quiet country watching our dogs run around and swin in all the ponds out there.. It was heaven out there for the dogs, and in someways for us.
We literally spent every afternoon of Fall 2002 out there enjoying life. I even remember Lucas would have to drop Rachel off at class and then sneak his way out to the farm and end up being late picking her up. I dont know how many times we lost our dogs out there. They loved to sniff around and I think play hide and seek from us b/c they definitely heard us calling them. He would always stay so cool when looking for them and I would be freaking out (I know he was thinking shut up man). Everytime, we would always find Foxy first, then here would come my dense dog acting like she had never heard us calling them. Lilly loved Lucas. I got Lilly and he liked her so much that he went to the shelter and got him Foxy.
I just remember him always helping me keep my cool when times got rough for me. Not only when looking for dogs but in general life obstacles. The thing about Lucas was he always would listen to you and try his hardest to help you when you needed it. I came to Lucas with problems about girls, career decisions, living situations, and just everyday troubles. Every single time he was there for me. It is still extremely hard living life without him here. I just hope he knew how much he meant to me. Lucas understood me (which can be very difficult sometimes).
I felt like sharing a part of my time with Lucas. I love you Lucas and think about you everyday. I still will need your help along the way.
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11.01.05
Posted in Memories at 6:04 pm by rdurden
When we first started seeing a lot of each other, we called each other permanent buddies. When we moved in together, we laughed about how permanent of buddies we had become. When we adopted Foxy & then Bear, we laughed about how many permanent buddies we had. Lucas now that you are gone, I realize just how permanent of a buddy you are. Your smile & our shared laughter, comforting friendship and unconditional love, will always be a part of me. As time goes by, I still love you as though you are here, miss you because you are gone, and pray for you as though I will see you again. Thank you for being my best friend.
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10.28.05
Posted in Memories at 10:57 am by Lauren Belcher
I have so many great memories of Lucas that will forever be ingrained in my heart and mind. Lucas was 2 years ahead of me in school and when he graduated from STJ we never lived in the same city, but still kept in touch all throughout the years. Every time we saw each other or spoke on the phone we just picked up right were we left off. He would remember every detail of what was happening in my life the last time we had spoken. He always asked about each person in my family individually. He’d want to know how my nephew was doing in school and he would even ask about my brother-in-law. Lucas was just that type of caring person.
So, I wanted to share a couple vivid memories of Lucas. The funniest thing that I have ever seen in my life was watching Lucas in tumbling class at the Armory. Mr. Harris signed him up to take tumbling because it is supposed to help football players with their coordination – or something like that. I can still perfectly picture Lucas trying to do all these gymnastics moves with his arms and legs sprawled out all over the place! Of course, he was laughing the entire time, as was I. It was too funny! Needless to say, those classes didn’t last too long.
Then there’s the Spring Break in Destin when Lucas decided to swim across the bay to come and see me at my condo. Our condos were across the bay from each other and he didn’t have a car so Lucas just swam across it! It’s a far swim – probably a couple football fields. What can I say – I can’t imagine anyone else swimming across a body of water to come and visit me except for Lucas.
Last summer when I moved to Birmingham after college, Lucas came to hang out with me. We had the best time – there wasn’t even so much as a pause in our conversations. We laughed about old times and just stayed up all night long talking.
As thoughts and memories of Lucas resonate through my mind everyday, I realize that people like him are so far and few between. I’m so grateful for the good times times we shared and I thank him for being him. Lucas was truly a very special person and I will never forget him.
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