August 27th 2017, Sunday

[posted by Luke’s Dad]

On Sunday afternoon, August 27th, Luke was at a coffee shop in Silverdale, WA. He was there at that coffee shop both Saturday and Sunday afternoon. He was hard at work on law school stuff. He said he wanted to get everything done that weekend so he could devote all his time during the week to Allison and to everyone who were coming up for the wedding.

I was at the Verhofstadt’s house with Lucy and Alison on Sunday. Lucy and I had just gotten back from getting ice cream and she was down for a nap. During the afternoon Allison went out to visit Luke at the coffee shop and give him some loving support. She knew he hated being away from everyone, but it was important to him get this work done and not have anything else to do during “wedding week”. Luke and I were talking back and forth via text while he was at the coffee shop. In addition to his law school work, he was also trying to finish an article for Being Libertarian and I was sending him edits. Weeks later, I looked over his law school notebooks. He took very copious and detailed notes. I saw in that weekend alone he did a tremendous amount of law school work at the coffee shop. He had the work ethic of an ox, just like his brother Spencer.

At around 6pm, he met us all for dinner at the house that we had rented in Bremerton. His aunt Christine (Aunt Dean), his grandmother (G-ma J), and Al (Al My Pal) had just arrived from NJ. Luke, Allison, Lucy, Aunt Dean, G-ma J, Al My Pal, and myself had dinner on the deck overlooking the lake. I took a picture from the deck that night of the sunset on the lake and posted it on Facebook.

Luke was so happy. I remember he was flying Lucy around the house. He would put her on her stomach on one of his shoulders, and he would hold her arms out in front of her while he ran around the house. Of course, she laughed like crazy, and the very second he would stop doing it, she would yell, “More!”. He sat there at the table after dinner and eagerly told us stories about law school, and all the crazy SJW’s. He told us about the friends he had already made, and the professors he had made an impression on, and who had made an impression on him.

Endless Compassion

[posted by Christine Garrison]

2.5 yrs ago Luke’s Uncle, ‘Al My Pal’, was diagnosed with cancer. Luke of course was in Seattle with his beautiful new daughter, Lucy, and Allison. On the day of the surgery as I was sitting in the waiting room while the 4 hour surgery was going on Luke text me: “I’m so sorry I’m not there with you, Dean. I love you so much. I love both of you so much. You know If I were home I’d be right there with you holding your hand. I’m there with you in spirit holding your hand.”

Today as I sit in the waiting room every morning for Al’s recurrent radiation treatment I think of these words and know that Luke is with me everyday holding my hand.

Childhood Antics

[posted by Spencer]

As far as brothers go, Luke and I were pretty much inseparable, especially when we were little. Our days were filled with running amok doing silly (and at least a little stupid and dangerous) things in our backyard. There was this huge tree at the bottom of our driveway; it was the perfect climbing tree, the kind you could actually climb almost to the very top of. We would often hang out up there and make up stories about good guys and bad guys, cops and robbers, spies, etc. One time, however, we were having an epic lightsaber battle with our collapsible plastic lightsabers. I think I was a sith lord and he was a jedi and I was chasing him. He ran to the base of the tree, clipped his lightsaber to his belt (he had ample time to do this because he was so much faster than me), and started climbing tree. Refusing to be bested, I, of course, followed him up there. We got close enough to each other at the top of the tree, drew our sabers, and started going at it. Not only were we sword fighting IN THE TREE, but he was pretending to force push me and I was pretending to force choke him, all while perched on the high branches. Incredibly stupid? Yes. Amazingly fun? Also yes. Par for the course for our friendship growing up? Without a doubt.