Today I mourn a childhood and HS friend. I just found out about the passing of Sonny Frick, and my heart aches for his family. I havent seen him since HS, but I remember the day we both FINALLY graduated. We both had to wait another year to see graduation, and due to alphabetic order we were seated next to each other that evening. We were laughing about something obnoxious, and he shifted in his seat. He blew out the seam in the side of his graduation robe with the sound of a soft fart, audible to everyone in range. We tried to stifle our laughter, with little success. Girls around us started handing us everything from bobby-pins to barrettes as we frantically and hysterically tried to staple up the side of his gown. Finally, success! Whew, they had just started calling out names for us to walk up and receive our long-awaited diplomas, and Sonny and I were still snickering quite a bit. Just as I went to stand up, the seam of my robe parted along the side, nearly exactly the same place. We nearly passed out from lack of oxygen, our faces turning as maroon as our robes. He gave me his evil grin and handed me ONE lousy barrette to patch the glaringly obvious hole, which failed miserably to do so. We were still laughing when we resumed our seats a short walk later, and getting more than a couple weird looks. Ive always remembered that day, and that moment in particular. I never knew until now how much I treasured that memory, and Im grateful beyond words to have it. As tears run down my cheeks, I can hear him telling me to hold still while he popped a bb out of my head several years prior to graduating, before we were even in HS. The look of something somewhere between horror, glee, and fascination on his face as he squeezed that thing out of my eyebrow is something I will never, ever forget, as I long as I live, until the end of my days. Rest in Peace Sonny. Youll be sorely missed, brother.
Posted on: Thu, 18 Dec 2014 15:52:31 +0000