Been thinking about what story to tell for a while now and I’m definitely overwhelmed by choices. At first, I was thinking about how he used to slam his car full of us cousins and hit up every drive-thru on Claire Ave, or when we were in the caymans and I had a ton of trouble with my ears all week. He lied to my mom’s face and took me to the wall the same day as my flight home. Going over the coral head with him toward a huge open ocean, watching him grab a lobster with his hands, or him pointing at his watch for me to check my gages and setting me up to notice that we were right at 100′ of depth are all vivid memories that I hope to never lose. He really went above and beyond for us all the time. It’s the only way he knew how to do it. 

The story that sticks with me most though is when Mikey and I wanted to play paintball and no one else was really into it. Except for your dad. He set up guns as quickly as he could and told us the rules of the game. It was 2 v 1. He would start by the asparagus patch and we would start on the slope between your barn and the lake. I was excited when we started. I never saw him for a second but was instantly pinned down behind a narrow tree. He was absolutely pelting this thing and it wasn’t much wider than me. I got rattled and threw my gun off to the side thinking he would realize I was giving up but he also wasn’t ever really one for subtlety. I got really upset and might have even shed a tear or two. Your brother was only a couple of trees away and helped me get my shit together and finish the game but I’ll never forget feeling so stuck behind that tree with paintballs whizzing by and realizing at some point he wasn’t gonna take it easy on me. It was on me to get my shit together and try to cover your brother. I’m sure he mopped the floor with us and I got shot right after composing myself but I think about being behind that tree a lot. 

There’s no substitute for that experience and that lesson and that’s what your dad was all about. Those once-in-a-lifetime moments just seemed to follow him around and I’m so thankful that I got to put up with him.