Loss of a life long friend

AS CHILDREN, WE WERE A FAMILY. WE KNEW AT A YOUNG AGE THAT IT DIDNT TAKE BLOOD TO MAKE YOU FAMILY. WE RAISED EACH OTHER, WE PROTECTED OUR OWN, STOOD BY EACH OTHER THREW AND THREW. AS CHILDREN WE REALLY THOUGHT WE WERE ALL WE HAD IN THIS WORLD. WE NEEDED EACH OTHER. WE RAN IN A PACK, WILD AND FREE. OUR PACK CONSISTED OF A GROUP OF KIDS THAT HAD IT TOUGH, BROKEN HOMES AND BROKEN BONES. TO THE OUTSIDE WE WERE MISFITS, LEATHER JACKET WEARING HOODS UP ON THE HILL SMOKIN NOT JOCKS OR CHEERLEADERS, DIDNT HAVE THE NICEST CLOTHES OR THE BEST HOMES, HELL WE HAD NO WHITE PICKET FENCES. BUT WE HAD ALL WE NEEDED AND WE FOUND LOVE AND ALL THE GREAT THINGS IN LIFE AT THAT TIME, IN EACH OTHER. WE WERE ROUGH AND ROWDY. AND YOU JUST DIDNT MESS WITH THE ONES WE LOVED. IF YOU HAD THE BALLS TO HURT ONE OF US, YOU HURT US ALL. YOU’D BETTER TAKE TO RUNNING FAST AT THAT POINT.

AS WE GREW, WE GREW CLOSER TO EACH OTHER, THE BOND STRONGER..YOU JUST KNEW OUR PACK WOULD STILL ALWAYS BE THERE FOR EACH OTHER WE LOST A FEW ALONG THE WAY, BUT IT MADE US STRONGER AND TAUGHT US THOUGH WE THOUGHT WE WERE INVINCIBLE, WE REALLY WERENT.

TO THIS DAY THOSE THAT ARE LEFT OF OUR PACK ARE STILL HERE. WE MAY HAVE GROWN UP AND WE MAY HAVE MOVED MILES AWAY FROM EACH OTHER, BUT I KNOW FOR SURE ALLS IT WOULD TAKE IS A PHONE CALL AND WE WILL STILL ALL BE THERE. WE MAY BE RAISING OUR OWN FAMILIES NOW INSTEAD OF EACH OTHER BUT, OUR TIE IS STILL STRONG ENOUGH TO CONSIDER OURSELVES FAMILY.

HOWIE KEPT TO THOSE STANDARDS. WHEN HE LOVED YOU, HE DID EVERYTHING HE COULD TO BE THERE FOR YOU. WETHER IT WAS HELPING YOU OUT WITH A CAR OR JUST MAKING YOU LAUGH. STANDING STRONG HE WOULD HOLD YOU UP WHEN YOU COULDNT STAND ON YOUR OWN. HE WAS STRONG AND HE WAS A FIGHTER. YET HE COULD WALK IN A ROOM AND LIGHT IT UP AND HAVE PEOPLE GASPING FOR A BREATH BECAUSE THEY WERE LAUGHING SO HARD. EVERYONE HE MET HE LEFT HIS IMPRINT ON. HE JUST HAD THAT WAY ABOUT HIM. CARING AND COMPASSIONATE, LOVING AND SENSITIVE, AND SILLY YET STRONG AND BAD A*S, NEVER BACKING DOWN FROM A FIGHT. HOLDING TRUE TO HIMSELF AND WHAT HE STOOD FOR.

HOWIE LIVED, HE REALLY LIVED. HE LIVED LIFE TO THE EDGE AND THEN JUMPED A LITTLE. HE DID WHAT HE WANTED AND DIDNT CARE ABOUT WHAT OTHER OUTSIDERS THOUGHT OF HIM. HE DIDNT GIVE A RATS A*S IF YOU DIDNT LIKE WHAT HE WAS SAYEN OR DOIN. HE LIVED LIFE ON HIS TERMS. UNLIKE SOME OF US WHO CONFORMED TO OTHER PEOPLES STANDARDS OR THEIR WAY OF LIVIN.

HOWIE REMAINED TRUE TO HIMSELF. HE NEVER CHANGED WHO HE WAS, UNLESS HE WANTED THAT CHANGE FOR HIMSELF.

HOWIE WAS A KIND AND GIVING MAN, HE WANTED TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN OTHER PEOPLES LIVES. WHEN HE MOVED TO TEXAS, HE BECAME A FIRE FIGHTER. THIS WAS A GREAT ACCOMPLISHMENT FOR HIM. HE WAS SO DAMN PROUD OF HIMSELF. HE WOULD CALL ME AND TELL ME ABOUT THE FIRES HE WAS FIGHTING. AND THE RESCUES FROM THE CAR WRECKS.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN TOTAL STRANGERS LIVES. SAVING ONE OF THEIR LOVED ONES.

IT TAKES A SPECIAL BREED TO BE THE MAN THAT HOWIE WAS. THE WORTHINGTON MEN ARE A SPECIAL KIND. I WAS PRIVILEGED ENOUGH TO BE ABLE TO SPEND TIME WITH HIS FAMILY IN TEXAS AND I CAN TELL YOU ALL...THERE WERE SOME STORIES. IN THE FAMILIES DARKEST HOUR THEY TALKED A LOT ABOUT HOWIE AND THE THINGS HE DID. WE WENT FROM CRYING TO LAUGHING SO HARD IT HURT. HOWIE COMES FROM A LONG LINE OF BAD ASSES. THEY ALL SEEMED TO BE SO MUCH LIKE HOWIE. HIS FATHER HAS SAID TO ME MANY TIMES..."YOU SEE WHERE HOWIE GOT IT FROM? THE ACORN DIDNT FALL FAR FROM THE TREE" I DEFIANTLY SAW WHERE HOWIE GOT IT FROM.

BEING A STRANGER THERE, MADE NO DIFFERENCE, YOU WERE A FRIEND OF HOWIES AND THAT WAS GOOD ENOUGH TO MAKE YOU FAMILY, NO BLOOD NEEDED. THEY EMBRACED MY PRESENCE AND MADE ME FEEL LIKE I WAS FAMILY. JUST LIKE HOWIE HAD MADE SO MANY OF US FEEL.

I WATCHED HIS CHILDREN, I FOUND MYSELF STARING AT THEM, I WOULD JUST SIT THERE AND SHAKE MY HEAD AND LAUGH. STUNNED AT JUST HOW MUCH HIS THREE BOYS WERE JUST LIKE HIM. ONCE AGAIN..KNOWING "THE ACORN DIDNT FALL FAR FROM THE TREE". I CAN TELL YOU FIRST HAND HIS LEGACY WILL LIVE ON. NO ONE COULD POSSIBLY FORGET "THE DUCK".

HE HAS TOUCHED TO MANY LIVES. ALL OF US HERE HAVE OUR OWN SPECIAL MOMENTS AND MEMORIES ABOUT HIM, NEVER TO BE FORGOTTEN. I CAN TELL YOU SOME OF MY BEST MEMORIES IN LIFE INCLUDE HIM. HAVING HIM AS A FRIEND MADE MY LIFE BETTER AND HAPPIER.. YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY.....

ITS ALWAYS THE GOOD ONES THAT GO TO SOON.