Pete's Last Ride

The Old Man doesn't do much body surfing these days. That "wave" has already broken on the shore. Not so in days gone by. My brother-in-law, Pete, and I have boogie boarded, body surfed, and generally raised hell by the ocean in our time. Pete caught his best wave ever a couple of days ago.

I had just started to date Miss Martha when I first was introduced to her brother, Pete. His first words to me after, "Nice to meetcha" was "Have you got a cigarette?" He was 15 then and I was 19. Both of us full of vinegar and that other stuff. Pete never ran out of vinegar while all I could keep was only that other stuff.

To say Pete was a "character" is vast understatement.....sort of like saying Mt Everest is a "hill".

He was 0 for 3 in the marriage department, but curiously, all of his "Exes" as the song goes, bore him no ill will. I think they just all figured it didn't work out because it was just the wrong time, wrong place, or some such.

Pete and I shared a lot of beach trips when our children were small. He was a brilliantly funny guy; able to keep all ages in stitches. His dry wit and his ability to clown in any given situation made him a host of friends. He never met a stranger and didn't suffer idiots at all. Even when he wasn't at the beach, he maintained a beach attitude. He was, I suppose, a combination of Willie Nelson and Jimmy Buffett. Some of the best partying I have ever done in my salad days was with Pete.

Unfortunately, there were tentacles attached to Pete that he seemed simply unable to extricate himself from. He would have times when they relaxed their grip a bit, but then they grew tighter and tighter until finally they achieved victory and Pete's body simply said "uncle".

We took his ashes to his beloved Outer Banks this past week and his 3 sons and his sisters set him asail on the final wave ride. Unlike all those we took together, this one will last forever and he will never have to go home from vacation. He's already there.

His oldest son summed up the day beautifully. As Pete surfed away, the sun broke through a little hole in the clouds, and he said, "Look, Dad just smiled on us."

So, Pete, thanks for all the fun memories, thanks for your friendship and love, and thanks for the brightness you brought into so many lives. Enjoy your "bitchin' wave" and take that ride...you've earned it!