Who was Eric? A Momma's Boy always

Eric was the oldest of our five children and from the moment he was born was always smiling, happy and a ham.  He loved life and took off after it from the moment he could walk.  Also, from a young age Eric always cared for the underdog in life, the person or people he came across that he felt needed a helping hand.  Eric was always that guy in school that would be the protector of the mentally challenged, shy young girl without a friend and the boy that seemed to always be the target of harassment.   I can think of so many occasions getting calls from school where Eric had intervened when someone was being harassed and Eric had a way of doing things…  the bully had one shot at apologizing to who he was harassing and one shot only of doing the right thing.  You can imagine sometimes they apologized and sometimes they did not and it is when they didn’t I would get the call letting me know Eric would need a ride home from the school.  
 
As Eric grew up and entered adulthood he struggled right out of high school on what would be his course in life and what was he destined to become.  This went on for a few months and then 9/11 happened and it changed the course of Eric’s life forever.   He enlisted in the United States Army and left for Basic Training December 31st of that same year.  We raised our children to be loyal to God, Country and Family and Eric felt he was called to serve and after basic and additional training he was serving in his 1st tour of Duty in Iraq.  The Death Triangle they called it where he served 18 months.   That first tour he lost many friends he had served with since Basic Training and it changed him and for the first time Eric realized that life was fragile.   The list of awards and commendations during this deployment are too many to mention but I can say this; Eric was a dedicated Soldier and felt he had found his calling serving in the United States Army and was so very proud and did his job well.   After his 2nd deployment he made the hard decision that he would need to step down in his role as Active Servicemen for the love of his wife and children as the risk of deployment over and over was too great and the thought of not being there to raise his son and daughter was not something he was willing to risk.  So, in 2011 Staff Sergeant Eric Rodman turned in his uniform for the last time and returned to civilian life.
 
Once back as a civilian there was some adjusting but Eric was focused on providing a stable and secure life for his family so he decided to go back to school.   He entered college and made the Deans list several times while working fulltime he earned his degree.  Eric and Tierah enjoyed the purchase of their first home and all the first’s that come with settling into a new life outside of the military and in 2012 welcomed their son Ryler.   I cannot put into words how much Eric loved his children; he was a hands-on Dad and participated in every single thing with each of them and every little change in Ryler he documented in video and shared with the family.  Also, Ariana who is very involved with gymnastics he did the same thing and was that Dad who video taped everything to share.  I guess he gets that from me as I have always been an avid photo taker to make sure that no memory is missed of the kids and grandkids.  I am grateful now of all the photos since that is all I have of Eric.
I realize that it is impossible to put all that Eric was into a few short paragraphs because he was so many things to so many people beyond his family even.  However, I hope this snapshot helps anyone that reads it to see that he was a wonderful young man who loved life and was loved more than words can say.  Eric’s motto his entire life was “Doing the right thing is always the right thing, even if it hurts”.  Cannot even begin to tell you how proud I am and have always been of Eric and just want everyone to know him if even in this small summary of his life.