Most know that Nick was a very confident, young man. Sarcastic, stubborn, well you get the idea. But he grew on us.My daughter loved him, and so we accepted him. He was the oldest of 3 boys. And from the stories I've heard those boys had some huge knock down drag out fights. But I also heard about how they had each others back, no mater what. He got to know many of Andrew's friends and they became the siblings he could pick on. My daughters became the sisters he never had. My grandparents became another source of family for him. He was even kind to my uncle Buddy. My nephew Cory became very close to him because they both could relate to being bigger than most of us. He even had 2 of my daughters live with him and Ashley. He offered them help in ways no one else could have. And they squabbled like siblings. As he dealt with his pain and frustrations he offered to set Ashley free so she could have a better life. Of course we don't abandon those that need us, we just stick closer.
He had a special relationship with Andrew's friends. They all loved picking on him and he gave it right back. I can't remember all their nick names, one was "the blond one", that didn't have blond hair. The boys showed their love by making a special facebook page just for him to be picked on.
I don't know when it started, but somewhere in all this, he would end conversations with ,'I love you". Then the boys started telling each other the same thing.
When Nick died it was awful. It was so hard for everyone. Ashley was a widow after only 7 months of marriage. Stephanie lived with them at the time and lost a big brother. Nick's family lost someone that had been special in many different ways to them. During the funeral so many came and told us how Nick had helped them in one way or another.Nick's home health patients called to check on him and were devastated to learn he would never be back to take care of them. They had known, and often had called him on his days off and he would go and check on them.
My niece Sydney and Nick had a running joke that a very small closet in the house was her bedroom. For some reason they had a pancake sausage joke between them.
He'd tried cutting trees, and had to have my dad come and fix a couple of those disasters. He'd taken some sleeping pills one night and now one wall of the house has the time theory forever drawn on the wall.
All those things kept running through our minds after the loss of one we'd had for such a short while.
The boys were devastated .Loosing any one as a teenager is rough. They each wanted to do something and if they had been asked they would have dug the grave or built the casket. They were hurting. It was the closest poor Andrew had to a big brother. Several went to Pulaski and stayed with us for visitation and the funeral, and then back for family volleyball a few weeks later. Even know we talk about him and you can see the hurt in their eyes.
We miss you Nick.
