Welcome to my “Next Chapter” and its accompanying blog! As with all worthy stories, the truly most important threads do continue from chapter to chapter. And so, it seemed right to have my initial entry be a celebration of the two very best parts of my saga to-date — especially as they are sure to continue to weave in and out of future episodes! So here’s the Kyle and Matt update 🙂
On May 17, family from around the country converged on Long Beach for Kyle’s commissioning ceremony as he became a 2nd Lieutenant in the Army Infantry.
His dad (David), brother (Matt), sister (Brook) and I had the honor of pinning on his Infantry bars — and his wife (Bow) was also honored with special recognition for her support in getting him this far. 
A host of other friends and supporters who helped kick Kyle in the butt along the way and make this all happen were on hand as well, including his high school counselor, his CrossFit gym boss and his ROTC Master Sergeant — who almost made good on his long-standing threat to zap Kyle with a Taser if he actually made it to commissioning! But seriously… you could just feel everyone’s tremendous pride and admiration for what Kyle has accomplished as he co-led the ROTC battalion for all of Southern California this year, had a GPA that warranted Distinguished Military Graduate status (top 10%), and was invited to participate with only ~20 other cadets from across the country in a strategy summit at VMI earlier in the spring. A few days later, he also officially graduated from Cal State Long Beach with a BA in Political Science — looking just slightly less spiffy(!) but exuding his own special style and charisma all the same!!
His dad (David), brother (Matt), sister (Brook) and I had the honor of pinning on his Infantry bars — and his wife (Bow) was also honored with special recognition for her support in getting him this far. 
A host of other friends and supporters who helped kick Kyle in the butt along the way and make this all happen were on hand as well, including his high school counselor, his CrossFit gym boss and his ROTC Master Sergeant — who almost made good on his long-standing threat to zap Kyle with a Taser if he actually made it to commissioning! But seriously… you could just feel everyone’s tremendous pride and admiration for what Kyle has accomplished as he co-led the ROTC battalion for all of Southern California this year, had a GPA that warranted Distinguished Military Graduate status (top 10%), and was invited to participate with only ~20 other cadets from across the country in a strategy summit at VMI earlier in the spring. A few days later, he also officially graduated from Cal State Long Beach with a BA in Political Science — looking just slightly less spiffy(!) but exuding his own special style and charisma all the same!!
Following a great party with the whole gang at Riviera’s in Redondo Beach that night, it was Matt’s turn as he headed off the next day to try out for the Houston Astros with most of the family in the stands to watch. He had a good outing there, and another later in the week with the Anaheim Angels — which led to them reaching out to him this past Saturday during the MLB Draft to see if he’d leave college to join the Angels organization…. For now, he opted to head back to school and will be transferring to play for UC Irvine this coming fall. Which should be a pretty exciting place for him to join as they are heading to this year’s College World Series after beating #1 Oregon and Oklahoma State in the NCAA regionals and super-regionals. Hopefully, they’ll keep it going in 2014-15 and we’ll all be able to meet up in Omaha next year to see Matt throw!
The boys took off on a brothers’ roadtrip to get Kyle to Ft. Benning in Georgia for Infantry, Ranger and Airborne training — hitting hot spots in Texas, New Orleans and who knows where else along the way! 
Once Kyle’s done at Ft Benning, he’ll be headed to Alaska for his first duty station, and Matt’ll be spending the summer playing ball in SoCal and working the UC Irvine summer baseball camps.
Once Kyle’s done at Ft Benning, he’ll be headed to Alaska for his first duty station, and Matt’ll be spending the summer playing ball in SoCal and working the UC Irvine summer baseball camps. And, before I move on, I just had to throw in this picture I found of the boys from a while back… along with the current version of same! They may have gotten bigger, but they haven’t changed much 🙂 And they ALWAYS seem to take every picture in that exact same pose!
As for me, I’m sitting in the Singapore airport getting ready to fly into Siem Reap, Cambodia where I’ll be spending the next 6 weeks volunteering with Journeys Within Our Community, a non-profit I’ve been working with for a while. I left TD Ameritrade and corporate life in May, and will be heading to Harvard in the fall to get a master’s in Education with a focus on International Development — so we figured this would be a great way for me to get some real-world experience and hopefully provide some value to an organization whose people and mission I so strongly support. You can check it out here to learn more (or just stay tuned to coming episodes of the blog!)
Lots more to come on this “Next Chapter” in the coming days, weeks and months. I’ll update as regularly as I can and link to my Facebook and Twitter in case you want to follow. I’ll be back in the U.S. and turn my phone back on July 22, but you can reach me in the meantime by email (erinesparza@aol.com), Skype (erinesparza99), or on WhatsApp. I look forward to continuing to share our respective adventures as we each move ahead on our paths — thanks for being a part of my life!! 🙂
The Next Chapter 
Erin, I just shared this with my mom and they will follow your blog as well. Three cheers for you, Kyle and Matt as you embark upon a year of great adventures! The boys are making you and our family so very proud! Congratulations! Safe travels Erin, very excited for you! Love, Amy and your Seattle family fan club 🙂