He ain't heavy, he's my brother..........................

Paul Pelletier September 12th 1962 to May 31st 2013.

Paul died yesterday at the age of 50 and broke a piece of my heart.

There are people you meet in life that become friend, family and foe. That was Paul. I meet him in the mid 80's when he living in Orlando. Paul and Mike had been friends through their high school years and somehow Paul ended up in Orlando, where Mike was going to UCF, after spending some time at Penn State. By the end of the 80's all of us were living in Ct. Mike and I were living in Cheshire and Paul in Bristol right across the street from ESPN. He used to go out at night and drive golf balls into ESPN's satellite dishes.

We drank lots and lots and lots of Jack Daniels, every day. It was just a little insane.

It was in those years that Paul and I started going to Key West and I eventually lost count of how many times we went. It always felt like we were going home when we went and was depressing when we left.

The last time we were in Key West, with Jeff, Paul became an ordained minister on the internet so he could marry an English couple who was staying at the same place we were. He didn't marry them.

Paul had many missteps through the years and moved back to Ct. for a while, then to Arizona and finally back to Ct. and moved back in with his Mom and stepfather.

During those years Paul and I went to Vegas and out to the Grand Canyon, Brice Canyon and Zion National Park That was a great vacation as we got to see many wild and varied parts of the country.

We also went out to California and saw the redwoods, Crater Lake and awesome stretches of the California/Oregon coast.

There several stretches through the years were Paul lived with me for extended periods of time. Some for better, some for worse.

With Paul living in Ct. and me in Florida and now NC we did not get to see each other much over the last 4 or 5 years. A couple hours here and there. We did have periodic very long talks on the phone.

As we all got older and changed the one thing with Paul that never changed was his love/hate for alcohol. To watch someone you love struggle, fight and live as an alcoholic is thoroughly depressing. Family , friends, jobs and so many other things get tested.

Paul had many demons and in the end he could not outrun them.

We had 26 years as best of family, friend and foe. We deserved at least 26 more.

I miss you already.

Picture taken on a bridge over the Colorado River somewhere between the north and south rim of the Grand Canyon in September 2005.

The song is dedicated to Paul. It was his favorite song and it was a song to be played in Key West.