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A birthday wish from Richard's father:
August 29, 2005 ... the anniversary of your birthday... a day that should be a celebration
full of laughter and good cheer. Sadly that won't be the way we mark your day. Instead there
will be a private Mass celebrated by Fr. Rossi to honor you.
Memories of you and your impact and influence on our lives, my life, fill our minds everyday...
everyday memories of you... your passion, your joy, your smile, your laugh, your loyalty and
integrity, your devotion to your family and friends, most of all your Angela... your angel.
I think of your struggle to teach her what you learned from life so that she could avoid your
mistakes… every father’s burden.
And then I remember the day you came into our lives. Looking back now your mother and I were
children ourselves. The first time I held you, you were so perfect, beautifully perfect and
for the first time in my life I felt pure and unconditional selfless love for this tiny angel.
On that day, at that moment you were the meaning of love. That is what I choose to celebrate today.
Memories of you… and our days together at the rink and on the road playing hockey. Playing is
too casual a word for your approach. It was not a game to you but an epic struggle. You
lived and breathed and even dreamed hockey. Watching you during those years are surely some
of my sweetest memories. My favorite photo of you sits on my desk as I write these words.
You are 12 years old sitting in the locker room in your Gladiator uniform, soaked with
perspiration after a tough loss staring away in space. It’s that spirit and drive I celebrate
today.
Memories of you… at the shore… swimming, fishing, crabbing and hanging on the boardwalk.
Everything I do with Robbie is a rerun of what we did. Every fishing line I bait, every
crab trap he pulls up, every wave he rides is a like you all over again. Many times he sees
the tears in my eyes and knows they’re for Uncle Rich. More often though I think back and
cherish the hours we spent together on our all night fishing trips aboard the Starlight in
Wildwood. Back then you were too young to haul up your own line – but you stayed with it
each year until you did. But it’s those earlier years when you were 8, 9, and 10 that I
remember best. You were always filled with wonder then and seemed to be able to ask questions
all night long as we sailed. You never lost that sense of wonder and that is what I
celebrate today.
 Memories of you… and the music. Indescribable… your love of music transcended everything
and included everyone. It was your touchstone and your reference point. It was the love
that never disappointed, never judged, always pleased and was always there for you. So
much of you was music. Five years old 1974 and playing Born to Run on air guitar. Thirty
years later we still stood and shouted fists in the air:
Tramps like us
Baby we were born to run
But there was another line in the song that I always watched you sing at concerts that
made me hopeful for your future. Hopeful because you sang it with such meaning… and passion
Someday girl I don’t know when
We’re gonna get to that place
Where we really wanna go
And we'll walk in the sun
I will try to celebrate that hope today. That indeed you are walking in that place in the sun.
Love
Dad
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Richard Petrone, October 15, 2005
;)
;)