Sorry Pete - Never Made It To You in Time

Hey Uncle Pete!  I figured I'd write you because we both know it means more to put it down on paper; gives you the chance to look back at it and second guess my grammatical errors :).  In life, we learn lessons, we try and leave something behind and make the best damn impression we can on this place so that there's nothing more we could have done better.  I'm still trying to convince my dad that you're a wonderful guy, but there's something about you being better looking that he just could never get over :)

I'll never stop learning from you; I don't care what you think, but that's the truth.  In this life and any for that matter.  I look at what dictates being a success in life, or what that truly means, and to me, it's a combination of things.  First is having a family, getting that succession in familial generation; passing on the name or genes.  It's important, what else do we have to show for this life but our families....our travels?  Our studies?  Those may make us intrinsically valuable in and of a conversation, a culutral moment, however they sure as heck don't stand the test of time like our blood and our babies.   Second, is being a great father.  That means a million things.  A monster commitment.  Monster meaning paramount, meaning Mount Fuji big in terms of importance.  Showing up, providing, supporting emotionally and physically, being a teammate, being a best friend....sounds cheesy, I know, but dammit, cheesy is warm and necessary and love all mixed in, and that's the good stuff.   You don't need me to tell you that you are a fantastic father.  That'll only pump you up more than that confident bravado I have to stare down every picnic behind the horseshoe pit.  Heineken in-hand, the guy's unstoppable.  It's like a white-knuckled batter staring down a fastball, only this guy's a ringer :)  No but seriously, there's this wonderful place in my heart that the Morans fill.  It's a big space, a friggin Penthouse apartment to be honest.  I can't say that a space like that could be created by just any family, nor could it be imitated.  There's just too much great history.  And that leads me to my third most important thing we can do as men, as people here in this wonderfully odd predicament of life.  We need to create a story.  A story that can be told by family members for years to come.  A message or mission that someone you or I love can take with them through their lives and pass on to another who's willing to listen.  It's nothing specific of course, but it's a lifestyle, an all-encompassing ethic.   Patty and Kerry and Me and My Dad, and every other Madden that's walked the staircases of Old Bridge and shared in the Taste of Home you always provide us, we can't help but pass on that story, that spirit of gentle zingers and genuine interest in the jobs we endeavor towards and the ones we date for no matter how short the courtship.  That's not something one can't be taught but rather inherently has as ones demeanor, ones outlook on life, their choice to be happy, or to be unhappy.   It's always been in you, and it's become inherent in me because of you.  I mean it.  I truly, lovingly thank you.  These things are priceless, and they will all become part of my collective story, my tell-all to those I love and teach along the way.  I may not be the one to teach or touch them directly forever, but that doesn't mean I stop existing within those I've affected so deeply, and that's the story, that's the goal.  That's how we live forever.  We live forever, without needing to endure eternity.  

With the utmost in honesty, love and shared experience for these many years, I'd have it no other way.  - timeline of aliases - The Geneseo College Kid, The Finance City Slicker, The California King, and now The Jr. Puzzler gone Realtor - eventually I'll be in Fashion, Television, a Chef and a Radio Host for a Political Blogosphere  :)