When you float the river, there’s no telling what treasures may be lost. Whether a wedding ring or your favorite pair of Ray Bans, when the water takes something –– you rarely get it back. But the river is a fickle thing, and from time to time, it gives unexpected gifts to those who know where to look.
That is what happened to Alva Pulido while in Concan floating the Frio river.
“For as long as I can remember, we always went to the river,” she said. “It’s the last river trip I took, and I’m walking around with my nephew and you always find stuff. So we’re walking to the river path and I find this koozie. I didn’t even think of it, I didn’t even look at it. I remember just picking it up and I was like ‘oh! Koozie! Let’s go get some beer!’ I remember going back to the cabin, putting it in my bag and honestly not thinking about it for a while.”
That was in August of 2020. The following December, Alva’s father passed away. During that time, her life changed entirely, and the koozie went forgotten as life went on. She lost her job and eventually found a new one, but her time unemployed allowed her to re-evaluate what it means to have, save and spend money. She also looked hard at her life and what it means to live in the moment.
That was when the koozie reappeared.
“The following April it is my fourty-fifth birthday and I’m having all of my girlfriends from college and family and we’re all going to Port A, and we have this amazing condo,” Alva said. “And so I’m packing my stuff, getting all my suits together and I open the bag that I guess I hadn’t used since the river and I find this koozie. So I finally read the back and I was like ‘oh it’s a memorial koozie,’ which is kind of common down here, I think, in Texas.”
The man on the koozie was named Ruben Perez II, but his friends called him ‘Camel.’ Born June 28, 1987, he passed away unexpectedly in 2019. Camel loved sports and, according to his friends and family, always knew the stats of whatever game was on. However, his most beloved sport was softball, and he spent all his spare time on the field. Alva, however, knew none of this yet, having only his name as she decided to take Camel traveling.
“I remember showing my friends, and they were like, ‘so he passed away and they made a koozie?’ I just remember thinking that’s how I’d want to be remembered –– somewhere fun, doing something with a great smiling picture, and I put it in my bag and used it on the trip. So then I was like I’m going to start traveling with him. He’s just going to start traveling with me.”
While Camel’s life was cut short, he found his way to Alva and has been all across the United States and (even Hawaii for his birthday –– a place he always wanted to visit), joined by Alva’s late father on a memorial pair of socks.
They have ventured to destinations like Puerto Rico, Honduras, and even Tulum, having zip line adventures and enjoying the experiences while sampling all the best beers. Camel went everywhere with Alva.
“He was literally always in my purse or backpack, or in my car,” she said. “And I am such a driver that if someone’s like ‘hey you want to come to Houston this week?’ I’m down. Koozie just became second nature to my cell phone.”
After all the time spent looking at Camel’s face smiling from the koozie, Alva became curious about him and the family he left behind. So she did a little Google sleuthing to find some answers about her travel buddy. She discovered his obituary, the Scholarship that now exists in his honor, and one more important thing –– an address.
“I honestly didn’t know if I wanted to send an email, send a letter to his family because I don’t know how he passed, nor does it matter,” Alva said. “I was talking to a good friend of mine, and she was like, ‘no, I think she’d appreciate that, or they, or whomever. And for all you know it might not get to them, but just think of the good story that everyone knows’ on my end and how it actually helped me cope with my dad’s passing. And she goes, ‘let’s do it,’ and I’m never afraid of things in general. So I was like, I’m sending it.”
And into the mail, the letter went making its way to Seguin.
It arrived at the Perez family home in an unassuming envelope with the words ‘Attention: Memorial Koozie’ carefully written on it. When Camel’s mother, Helena Perez, retrieved her mail the day it arrived, she was expecting correspondence about the Scholarship and ordering more of the Camel commemorative koozies.
When she turned the envelope over, there was more.
“It was A. Pulido, Alice TX, and I’m like what the heck,” Helena said. “So then I opened it, and there’s this beautiful letter. I was in tears that day. I was like, ‘my goodness; my boy is still touching people.”
Unintentionally, the Camel changed my life, Alva wrote. Although he is no longer on this earth, I want you to know that he has impacted my life, despite his untimely passing. She went on to write: I understand this koozie is NOT mine, and if you’d like it back, I would gladly return it, but I wanted you to know that I have my two travel staples. My Camel koozie and a pair of socks with my father’s face all over them. I hope both of them can appreciate the respect I have for their lives and that they are missed.
The letter deeply impacted Helena and Ruben (his father), who share Alva’s passion for travel and living life to the fullest.
“Ruben and I try to travel somewhere every year since 2014,” Helena said. “My husband started with a fifty and over team at that time, so we were going to Vegas every year because at the end of softball, there’s a big tournament in Vegas for fifty and over. 2014 was our first year to go. Well, then the kids went with us the second year, and oh my God, Ruben (Camel) loved it. He could play, that boy. That boy could count cards and make money in 30 minutes. He was good with it. I started looking at (other) trips, and baby Ruben said, ‘mama, I want to go to Denver. Let’s go to Denver mom. Well, we were going to try and go December of ‘18, and the other kids couldn’t take off. Well, then in January, I said I’m going to book this trip to Denver and Ruben (Camel) said, ‘I’m in, I’m going.’ So we did a big trip to Denver just us, and my brother showed up too. And that was like the trip of his life. He loved it.”
That trip was Camel’s last before he passed the following March. His family and friends were devastated. So many people attended his funeral that many couldn’t get inside the doors.
“As far as I’m concerned my son was a good citizen,” Helena said. “He loved his city. He loved being from a small town. He was proud of Seguin. He loved to say he was from Seguin and he always said, ‘I’m never leaving Seguin. Seguin’s my hometown, that’s where I came from.’ Anyone I ever talk to, they always said Ruben picked them up, Ruben talked to them, Ruben made them feel so good, Ruben turned them around. And I’m happy to know that.”
Camel supported his friends while living and continues to support his new friend Alva as she aims to experience all life has to offer while she still can.
“I could easily die in a car accident tomorrow,” Alva said. “And it wasn’t always about death –– what if I’m super broke tomorrow and can’t travel? Or things can always just change, and I think, the more things change, whether it comes to having to find a new job or losing your job I’m still going to be fine the next day.”
Camel and the traveling koozie are a reminder to live life to the fullest because you never know when things may be cut short, and Alva lives to embody this mentality. One of her next big trips will be to Paris for the 2024 summer Olympics.
“I want to go to the Olympics,” Alva said. “Everyone that knows me knows I’m such a sports fanatic. As much as I don’t watch a lot of sports on TV, if someone invites me to go see badminton tomorrow –– the professional badminton championships, I am there.”
And Camel will be right there beside her, knowing all the stats for all the sports –– just like he always did. •