A Few Good Times I'd Like to Share
It all began in 6th grade when we were in the same house together. I had a hard time making friends so I thought I should try and make conversation my mom said, "You should talk to him, his mom works at the dental office." So I finally confronted him and he was with some other friends. I'll never forget the first thing I said to him. "Hay, your mom is Mary right?" He nods. "You look like her." Him and all the other guys with him just look at me like I'm a total retard and I just walk away with my head bowed low.
7th grade was an even bigger step of trying to fit in. This is the challenge I am talking about. of course I had my old childhood friends but they were in different classes and of course with some we grew apart. All I remember is him being there, in my English class. We would be separated for laughing so much during class. You know that feeling, when everything is so much funnier and harder not to laugh because you know you could potentially get in trouble. I remember us sneaking looks back at each other making the obscene gesture of imitating the act of a blow job. It was one of those immature Jr. Higher things that no one understands because its your own little joke. I remember that we all sat together at lunch. Him, Kade, Matt, Craig, Shane and myself. We would joke around constantly always making fun of each other. Some day's we'd get really bored during lunch and so he thought it would be fun to have some pickle races. He sopped his pickle in ketchup, chocolate milk, and threw the pickle against the window. So when the lunch room adviser looked away he went up and just slapped it against the window. I can still picture every move he did when he did that, I do not know why. He just had his big smile and chuckle when he slapped it on the window and casually walked back to his seat.
One year I asked if he wanted to come up with my dad, my brother his friend and I to our Hunting shack. He gladly came along and we had a good weekend. Adam, my brother, Jason, whom we called "Kern" were acting very gaily around us. It creeped us out a lot. For years we'd talk about how gay they were and we'd have a good laugh about it. When we were at the shack we had to bunk in the same bed and one night I had a dream that my dad was right in front of me and he was trying to wake me up so i reached out to grab him. I woke up from the dream and went back to sleep. The next morning When I woke up the first thing he says to me is "Why the hell did you grab my face?" I had no idea what he was talking about but apparently in the middle of the night he had gotten up to go to the bathroom and came back. My hand had grabbed his face and not knowing I was sleeping he just hit me in the stomach and I let go. But then I touched his face again, he started getting really pissed off and really let me have it. So apparently in my dream when I thought I was touching my dad's head I was touching his face.
High school came and we spent time walking around with other friends during lunch. All of us would always have a slushy in our hands. I had the advantage of using the elevator for I had a broken ankle. We all fit in the elevator and he thought it would be funny to hit my slushy in my face. The plan backfired and we threw blue slushy all over the walls of the elevator. He giggled and we hurried away.
Things started happening, he became an Ag. Building kid and I moved to the theater. We grew apart as friends and just became acquaintances. We saw each other less and less and with each time we saw each other less the less we said 'hi' to each other. I remember that about a month ago I passed him in the hall and we just walked on by without saying something to each other. I look back on that now and regret it very much. It didn't hurt then but now it does. He is gone and there is no changing that. If there is one thing about him I will never forget its that he was the only person who could make me laugh so hard. Whenever I was around him I could never stop laughing. He was a very humorous kid and nobody could make me laugh as much as he could. The other thing I can add to that I will remember is his smile, man he could smile well. You would never see him without it, he always had something to smile about. Eric Schwanke was a great friend of mine at a time and I regret that we had drifted apart. Tomorrow is his wake and Tuesday is his funeral, it is going to be the hardest thing I've done in a long time.
For whatever reason God took you away from the people that loved you, it was a good reason.
God rest you now that we've found you Eric.
Until we meet again.
-Daniel
7th grade was an even bigger step of trying to fit in. This is the challenge I am talking about. of course I had my old childhood friends but they were in different classes and of course with some we grew apart. All I remember is him being there, in my English class. We would be separated for laughing so much during class. You know that feeling, when everything is so much funnier and harder not to laugh because you know you could potentially get in trouble. I remember us sneaking looks back at each other making the obscene gesture of imitating the act of a blow job. It was one of those immature Jr. Higher things that no one understands because its your own little joke. I remember that we all sat together at lunch. Him, Kade, Matt, Craig, Shane and myself. We would joke around constantly always making fun of each other. Some day's we'd get really bored during lunch and so he thought it would be fun to have some pickle races. He sopped his pickle in ketchup, chocolate milk, and threw the pickle against the window. So when the lunch room adviser looked away he went up and just slapped it against the window. I can still picture every move he did when he did that, I do not know why. He just had his big smile and chuckle when he slapped it on the window and casually walked back to his seat.
One year I asked if he wanted to come up with my dad, my brother his friend and I to our Hunting shack. He gladly came along and we had a good weekend. Adam, my brother, Jason, whom we called "Kern" were acting very gaily around us. It creeped us out a lot. For years we'd talk about how gay they were and we'd have a good laugh about it. When we were at the shack we had to bunk in the same bed and one night I had a dream that my dad was right in front of me and he was trying to wake me up so i reached out to grab him. I woke up from the dream and went back to sleep. The next morning When I woke up the first thing he says to me is "Why the hell did you grab my face?" I had no idea what he was talking about but apparently in the middle of the night he had gotten up to go to the bathroom and came back. My hand had grabbed his face and not knowing I was sleeping he just hit me in the stomach and I let go. But then I touched his face again, he started getting really pissed off and really let me have it. So apparently in my dream when I thought I was touching my dad's head I was touching his face.
High school came and we spent time walking around with other friends during lunch. All of us would always have a slushy in our hands. I had the advantage of using the elevator for I had a broken ankle. We all fit in the elevator and he thought it would be funny to hit my slushy in my face. The plan backfired and we threw blue slushy all over the walls of the elevator. He giggled and we hurried away.
Things started happening, he became an Ag. Building kid and I moved to the theater. We grew apart as friends and just became acquaintances. We saw each other less and less and with each time we saw each other less the less we said 'hi' to each other. I remember that about a month ago I passed him in the hall and we just walked on by without saying something to each other. I look back on that now and regret it very much. It didn't hurt then but now it does. He is gone and there is no changing that. If there is one thing about him I will never forget its that he was the only person who could make me laugh so hard. Whenever I was around him I could never stop laughing. He was a very humorous kid and nobody could make me laugh as much as he could. The other thing I can add to that I will remember is his smile, man he could smile well. You would never see him without it, he always had something to smile about. Eric Schwanke was a great friend of mine at a time and I regret that we had drifted apart. Tomorrow is his wake and Tuesday is his funeral, it is going to be the hardest thing I've done in a long time.
For whatever reason God took you away from the people that loved you, it was a good reason.
God rest you now that we've found you Eric.
Until we meet again.
-Daniel