My name is Brian, and I have known Nick since we were in preschool. Nick and I became quick friends, and played all the time together. As we got older Nick and I shared many of the same interests. We both played saxophone and baseball, we both loved the Mets, and Nintendo, but most of all we loved Transformer toys. When 4th grade came I transferred to a different grammar school, and moved a few towns away. The move however did not break up our friendship. Nick and I were part of a clique with our friends Rory and Mike. It didn't matter if it were freezing snow, pouring rain or blazing sun; we would ride our bicycles to each other's houses (usually quite a few miles) just to hang out.
As grammar school changed to high school we put away our transformer toys, traded the saxophones for CD players, upgraded from Nintendo to Super Nintendo, and as Baseball went on strike we started wearing Chicago Bulls or Charlotte Hornets hats. Rory fell out of touch, but Mike, Nick and I were still as tight as ever. We all started dating girls, listening to different music, and doing different activities, but we never let the changes that happen at that age get in the way of being best friends. I had a very special and different friendship with Nick than I did with Mike, as I am sure Mike and Nick had with each other. Nick and I would stay over each other's house, and play Super Nintendo all night, go to lots of movies, and compete in arcade tournaments.
We would go to five movies a day having only bought one ticket between us, and handing it off duping the usher ripping the tickets at the theatre. We even got the crazy idea to simply walk into the movie theatre BACKWARDS as all the people leaving a show were walking out, The logic was that when the ushers looked up for a split second, they would see us facing the same way as all the people leaving. The craziest thing is IT WORKED! I'm sure today we would have been thrown right out of the theatre, but back then we were just goofy kids trying to push the boundaries, and laughing it up the whole time. We were good kids and we always looked out for one another.
After high school I went to a semester of college, but decided it was not for me and joined the military. Boot camp was what you would expect it to be... and at 18 years of age, it was quite a shock to my system. One of the most comforting things I had when I was so far away from home, and wondering what I had gotten myself into were letters from Nick. He wrote to me on a regular basis, and anybody who has done military service knows what those letters mean. Imagine my shock when I was graduating from boot camp in the freezing winter of 1996, and Nick came all the way out to Chicago with my parents to see me "pass and revue". Nick will never know how much that meant to me, that he would care so much to come out and watch me graduate from what was to that point the hardest thing I had ever done. I remember thanking him, and he would just smile and say "you would do the same thing for me". As my military service continued I would come home on leave and see Nick. We would go to Mike's house and have crazy parties in the backyard and reminisce about the fictitious adventure we all had hopping a train to Atlantic City.
The last time I saw Nick was at Mike's house, and I was home on leave having been pretty badly injured, and very scared about my future. I had gotten grumpy with a few of our friends and Nick smoothed it all over. We talked afterwards and it was great to have a peer to relate to. I was honorably discharged from the military. And then went about my business of claiming my medical benefits and going on with my new life in Arizona. A place Nick said I would love. After a year out there I was pretty well recovered and moved back home to New Jersey.
Nick and I had lost touch at this point, but I had moved to an apartment in Dumont, and decided to just walk over to his Mom's house and ask her for his phone number. I remember that night like it was yesterday. I was so excited to get Nick's number and his mom told me all about how great he was doing going to school to become an architect. Nick and I got back in contact, and he was so proud to be going to school.
As I worked at the Sheriff's department I felt like something was missing. I remember discussing it with Nick, and he told me quite frankly I was wasting my time, and I needed to go back to school. I remember him being just a phone call away when I was making the very difficult decision to give up my whole life in New Jersey and try to go away to school becoming a 26 year old freshman living in the dorms of Penn State. More importantly I had to get accepted first. Nick assured me that I would have the time of my life in college, and made me confident that I would excel as an older student. He talked about rebuilding study skills and how important it was to never miss a class, and to live AT school, to minimize the distractions of real life.
I am glad to say that I recently graduated from Penn State with honors, and if it wasn't for Nick encouraging me, I may have never pursued my dream. Nick told me "hey, if I can do it, you can too". Nick was there for me then, just like he was there for me during boot camp and all the other times we spent together. I am so lucky to have kept in touch with Nick all these years. The last time I spoke to him he was talking about how much he loved the animals on the farm, and about moving out of Philadelphia. He was so excited that I was working for the Mets during college, and spending my summers at Shea Stadium where we had gone to so many games together as kids.
I will never forget his voice and how he used to call me "Rothy" and how I ALWAYS called him "Nicky". I really think Nick's Mom, myself and Mike were the only people allowed to call him "Nicky".
Nick is gone now, and anybody who knew Nick will understand when I ask "who am I going to talk to where I can just laugh about nothing at all?" I have spent the past few days looking at old pictures of Nick to post on this website, and hope to remember every little thing about Nick. But the details don't really matter. I just wish I could thank Nick for being there for me when I needed him. And hope I was there for him when he needed me.
Sincerely,
"Rothy"