I shared this in the other sandbox and thought I'd share it here as well.
I've been processing things and searching for words for a few days now and discovered that I really suck at finding the right words. Or least halfway decent ones.
Marty - great post and a great story. I've been thinking about you. You have my number.
Wayne - you nailed something. Sooze and I weren't close to Petey, but, like you, he was a familiar face that we looked forward to seeing, looked forward to shaking his hand, looked forward to having a chat about whatever. We did just that on Thursday, and for that I am thankful. Gonna miss those handshakes and chats.
As others have said, Petey is my hero.
Here is how Petey became my ninja hero:
We had initially met Petey at either EOM '08 or SFO '09. We remember for sure that he was at SFO.
Fast forward to 2010. Sooze and I saw him at CFR. Just a few weeks later, we were in Eureka, CA, where we popped in at the WFO hotel to meet and chat with the west coast FJR folks.
As we were standing around chatting, I felt ... a presence ... behind me.
I turned, and Petey had snuck up on me, all ninja-style. He scared the **** outta me.
He laughed, of course, because ninjas laugh when they sneak up behind you and scare the **** outta you.
Right then, Petey became my hero because he was everywhere. Arkansas ... Quebec ... California. He was everywhere.
And ever since, he is my favorite ninja.
I found a picture of him from that WFO gathering - just look at him, back there all ninja-style.