The last time I sat down to write here was back in 2021. Life was already complicated then, but nothing could have prepared me for the moment that changed everything.
I lost a close friend and brother-in-arms, John Lee, a U.S. Army Ranger, and his wife Henee Lee, in a head-on collision. In a single moment, two incredible lives were gone and with them, a part of me.
Grief has a way of carving out space inside you. For a long time, I didn’t know what to do with that emptiness. But eventually, it became clear: I couldn’t let their memory fade. I needed to carry it forward. That’s when the seed of E.P.A.P. - Every Picture A Poem, Every Poem A Purpose was planted.
At first, E.P.A.P. was just an idea. A way to honor John and Henee by doing what I know best: telling stories through images, film, and words. But over time, it became more than that. It became a mission to capture voices, cultures, and causes that often go unseen, and to give them the dignity of being remembered.
It hasn’t been easy. Since 2021, I’ve wrestled with setbacks, doubts, and the long road of turning vision into reality. But I’ve also seen the power of this work in the faces of people who’ve shared their stories with me, in the communities I’ve been welcomed into, and in the reminder that even in loss, purpose can grow.
This blog is my way of reconnecting with y’all, with EPAP, and with the promise I made to myself after John and Henee’s passing. I’ll be sharing stories from the road, from the people I meet, and from the journey of building something that feels much bigger than me.
Because if there’s one thing their lives taught me, it’s that we don’t get forever. But we do get a chance to leave something meaningful behind.
This is mine.
