Laurie Mckenzie
Oh where to start...I never dreamed that I would be sitting here writing this to you today!! I just wanted to let you know that your were a wonderful person!! You were a great "my other dad"!! You have been there for me throughout my life growing up, and as the years passed, we became really good friends, along with having a father/daughter relationship!! We have had some very lengthy, different, and off the wall conversations since we became friends!! Oh if the walls could talk!!! I don't regret any of them!! We could tell each other things that, some of them, I can't believe we even had the conversations, but I am grateful for each and every one of them!! I wouldn't trade them for the world!! Once I couldn't ride my motorcycle anymore, you stepped up and let me ride with you on yours. It wasn't a Harley, but I never held that against you! Haha!!! I know you told me I was going to have to quit wearing my Harley clothes while I was on your bike, but we both knew that was never going to happen!! HaHa!! I know I have thanked you for each and every trip, but I want you to know how much fun, and how much that meant to me! You, Dan, and I had some pretty good long hauls!! And, Chris, Doug, Dan, Tim, you, and I had a lot of great days of riding over the years I could ride!! Those were some really awesome times!! I want to thank you too for all the times you took Dan and I fishing every weekend when you and mom lived at the lake! Those memories I will always treasure! I have so many different memories of so many different good times. The fun we have always had playing games, That damn buzzer in Catch Phrase, or whatever it was!!! You would always sit by me and make the buzzer go off in my ear, every time!! The camping trips over the years, all the simple things that we always did growing up, cause we didn't have the money to do the other stuff, but I tell you what, we kids had the best of times. We didn't need all that hoop la la stuff!! We made do with what we had, and we always had a blast!! We had to!! And, I guess we never really cared, anyhow! We were brought up that way, and were grateful for what we did have, not upset for what we didn't have! I know things got rocky between you and I after mom passed away!! I thank God each and every day that we were able to move on past all of that, and made amends before this happened. We were back to the every couple of day phone calls, and I absolutely hated that things got bad between us!! It hurt really badly!! But by God, we made it through it, and were on great terms again!! I am going to miss my every couple of day calls!! It has been hard getting used to you not being in town anymore anyways, and now, it is going to be tremendously harder knowing I am never going to see you again!! I want you to know how very much I love you!! Dan too!! You were good friends with Dan. He treasured that! Thank you for being such a wonderful, caring, friend and father!! I am going to miss you forever!! You are now up there with your entire family!! You know what happened to Uncle Danny too now!! Please shed some light on us so we can find out what happened!!! Please give mom a hug and kiss from me!! She too, loved you with all her heart, and being able to make it through your 40th wedding anniversary, and dancing with her on your anniversary a couple of days before she passed, meant the world to her!! I am so thankful you two made that milestone before she passed!! I love you now, then, and forever!! May you rest in peace! You will be missed more then you will ever know! Thank you for being a part of my life, and making it a good life!! Until we meet again, I love you!!