Nic passed away suddenly after a sinus infection spread to his brain, the life support systems were shut down on the 10th of May, 2011.
I grieve at the injustice of your sudden passing while other people who aren't worth the shit on my shoe live on.You were a brave and serene soul in the turmoil of our family Nic, you were always respectful and loving to your Mum, you stuck up for your sister Jasmine when she needed it. You and Damien always had each others back and you were fantastic with James.
You were a hard worker Nic and you should be proud of that, do you remember jackhammering all that concrete up at Kaiapoi school right in the middle of summer?
I let you invite your mate Phil along to help out a couple of days into that project and even though you two assed about laughing and joking all day you still worked like a trojan.
Do you remember the first time you ever got into trouble? It was me came got you and took you home that day. Mum and I made you write out the ten commandments like a thousand times. You wrote till your hand was cramped up and we lightened up on you and let you have a break till the next day.
Do you remember the chooks we kept in the yard at Stourbridge street? We butchered one and cooked it, none of you kids would eat it.
Do you remember the chooks we kept in the yard at Stourbridge street? We butchered one and cooked it, none of you kids would eat it.
Do you remember the trip to Hamner in '96? The bullock that came right up to us, so we jumped back into the car. But you locked the door before Jasmine got in, so she was locked out and skitzing big time screaming at you through the window of the car and scared shitless? You and I were in hysterics, that was classic.
Do you remember the countless hours you and I played Gran Turismo on the playstation?
James has told us the story about the time you took him to Laser tag in Christchurch, you were moving around, from cover to cover looking for a target. James was quietly following you the whole time, the instant you finally turned around to check your six there was James and bang, it was lights out for you. You had a chuckle about that and James did the harry so you wouldn't get him back.
Nic you always had a way with the kids, they were drawn to you I think they knew they were accepted without question by you. It was never below you to get down at their level and play cool kid games with them for hours at a time. When we used to mind that wee fella Jamal, he couldn't pronounce Nic so he called you Noodle. He would follow you around everywhere you went. One day you went into your room and closed the door, the poor little fella stood in the hallway crying "Noodle, Nooooodddle, Noodle until you came out to play with him again.
When James was a baby you used to hover around his crib while he was sleeping so that you'd be the first one there to pick him up and play with him when he woke up.
You were helping me tie some flies for trout fishing when we lived at Stourbridge Street, I was holding one in my mouth to tie off the last bits and of course it ended up punched through my lip. I was chucking a wobbly mumbling and swearing about getting the side cutter pliers so we could cut the hook off and feed the whole thing back through my lip, you were more interested in stirring me up and imitating my hook impaired speech, you were smart enough to do that from the other side of the room.
Man you used to do some weird shit on our fishing trips too, I like to think of this arrangement of shark head and guts on a stick as a form of artistic expression:
James has told us the story about the time you took him to Laser tag in Christchurch, you were moving around, from cover to cover looking for a target. James was quietly following you the whole time, the instant you finally turned around to check your six there was James and bang, it was lights out for you. You had a chuckle about that and James did the harry so you wouldn't get him back.
Nic you always had a way with the kids, they were drawn to you I think they knew they were accepted without question by you. It was never below you to get down at their level and play cool kid games with them for hours at a time. When we used to mind that wee fella Jamal, he couldn't pronounce Nic so he called you Noodle. He would follow you around everywhere you went. One day you went into your room and closed the door, the poor little fella stood in the hallway crying "Noodle, Nooooodddle, Noodle until you came out to play with him again.
When James was a baby you used to hover around his crib while he was sleeping so that you'd be the first one there to pick him up and play with him when he woke up.
Man you used to do some weird shit on our fishing trips too, I like to think of this arrangement of shark head and guts on a stick as a form of artistic expression:
Do you remember getting me to listen to Tupac and Eminem and I was all: That's not music, have a listen to this 80's Australian rock, now that's music.
Do you remember when we went on a mad kite phase, we borrowed kite books from the local library and built a series of kites. The last in that series was the masterclass stunt kite, you and I stayed up all night finishing that one off talking about how we hoped it would be windy in the morning so we could go test it out. You had it sussed in no time and were pulling figure 8 loops within 2 feet of the ground.
Do you remember when we went on a mad kite phase, we borrowed kite books from the local library and built a series of kites. The last in that series was the masterclass stunt kite, you and I stayed up all night finishing that one off talking about how we hoped it would be windy in the morning so we could go test it out. You had it sussed in no time and were pulling figure 8 loops within 2 feet of the ground.
Do you remember that time Damien (God love him) went nato down the sleepout at the Timaru house? You handled that well I reckon.
I hope the fishing is good there Nic, you always liked going fishing with me. I wish we could go fishing again Nic. I'm proud of you son and I always will be.
Ka kite ano eh hoa, all my love, I'll never forget you. Say g'day to Jack for me.
