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Friday, September 02, 2005
Memories of Petey My very most fond memory of Petey came only two months before the accident. We were all four of us walking down Mainstreet on our way to pick up some milk for Margarette (her husband had just gone away and left her with the kids). Petey always liked helping people - and that's what I'll remember most: his goodwill and honest spirit - and it was he what set us up to buy milk for Margarette. As we were going along, we noticed there were some teenaged boys harrassing a younger boy and his teenaged sister. Petey, seeing this, became vexed and he flushed and his nostrils flared a little. 'Petey, it's not our business,' we warned. 'It's our business because it's our town, and what if it was you, and what if they decide that next time it will be?' Petey had tears welling up in his eyes as he often did when he became righteously indignant. So, in Petey fashion, he stormed right over there and told the teenagers to leave the girl and her brother alone. Sure, they punched him. Sure, they kicked him while he was down. But it was the way he stood right back up every time they knocked him down and never once asked us to help him that stands out most in my mind. He was so strong, and so brave. Sure, they beat the shit out of him, but he did what he felt was right. That's what it meant to be Petey. In Memory of Petey [Steven] Time:1:48 PM
Memories of Petey. We miss you, brother. It was fall, just like now, which I guess is part of why this memory came back so strongly and vividly. We weren't sure what to do, but we wanted to go someplace so we all piled into Steve's old pickup and ended up out at the cemetary on the outskirts of town. It was a little chilly but Petey jacked a half bottle of rum from who knows where and we all kept warm drinking and talking, looking at the stars. I don't remember what we talked about much, only I remember something Petey said that always stayed with me. I don't remember the exact words he used, because that bottle of rum was almost gone, but the sentiment he expressed I'll always remember, as clear as those stars that night. "This is the beginning, guys," he said. "This is the starting line right here. Sure we've been sprinting and running laps for awhile, warming up, but this is the race about to start. From here on out it's the real deal." It was something like that, and then he got up and started running around the tombstones until he tripped on a cross headstone and fell over, laughing. Then we all laughed with him and started running around and jumping over headstones like they were hurdles, ripping off our clothes and screaming, "I'm winning! I'm winning!" Still, knowing Petey, it wasn't just about getting wasted and making a lot of noise, his words were meant to show a valuable lesson of life and obtaining our own rites of passage, and his wisdom lives on in the rest of our lives and these words. In Memory of Petey [Dave] Time:1:55 AM Thursday, September 01, 2005
you bet. This is the story of four Young Men. They began their blogging lives between the ages of 14 and 18. Then one day, the youngest of them passed away at the age of 16. Petey will forever be missed. John, Dave, and I never recovered from that loss. We just haven't posted the same since Petey passed away. It put such a damper on our blogging. Sometimes, I still see his smiling face, urging us to blog. 'Go, post something interesting!' he would say. 'Alright, Petey!' and we would post. Oh! how we would post. And for a time, things were good. For a time, things were very good. We had a following, even. As time went on, much of the followers moved on to college and being cool and things like that. Then came the accident that forever changed word for word - Petey had just finally recieved his learner's permit to drive, and was going down I-43 with his Uncle Jimmy. An apathetic trucker crushed little Petey's car, killing both him and his Uncle Jimmy instantly. word for word would never be the same. We still have not recovered. Damn it, why did you have to snuff it, Petey? In Memory of Petey [Steven] Time:12:05 AM |
