Last night was rough and I was very heistant about attending.

I was told prior that Gary's car would be there and did not think I was ready to see that.

Anytime I saw the chally.... Gary was either in it or near it and I knew he wouldn't be standing by it tonight. (Maybe he was though because his presence there was overwhelming at some points.

When we arrived at Jacks house the first thing you could see was Gary's car by the large flagpole. I tried to choke back the tears but they came anyway.

There was a bit of silence for a good while as we all stood there looking at each other... looking at the car..

I looked at familar faces that were so different now than when I had seen them in days gone by. Eyes were red, heads were down.

BUT something amazing happened that night. As impossible as it was for me to believe...... we found ourselves laughing at some corn ball thing Gary had said or did in the past. We found ourselves looking at photos, remembering times at the nats and Norwalk and I learned so many neat things I never knew about Gary.

Of course every now and again if you had time to just sit there and think.. the tears would come again but everyone was very supportive and talking really helped us remember the positive and not to focus on the negative.

Mr Irons and his family are wonderful people and I couldn't help but think this:

No wonder Gary liked them so much.

I wish I would have met them before this whole thing had happened but ONCE AGAIN Gary was bringing new people together and helping to build new friendships.

Russ gave me some pictures of Gary and one of them he's on his bike that he liked so much. lol. He sure looked goofy on that bike. I remember he looked like Forest Gump with a big ol' smile plastered to his face. In this pic he looked just as he did when he was younger on his peeler bike.

You couldn't help but laugh at Gary sometimes because of his comedic down hearted nature.

I think it was good to go to Jacks house last night as it was a way to mentally prepare ourselves for what will surely be a sorrowful day later on this afternoon.

I tried to get Jack to adopt me and told him I'd be cool just sleeping in the garage. (You have to see this mans garage) Then I told him I'd be willing to make an engine swap (switch his hemi from his hemi RR with my 383) he smiled but I don't think he was buying my idea that much.

I felt so much better talking with these men and ladies and I'm glad I didn't chicken out and stay behind. It WAS good therapy.

All who attended THANK YOU for being there and for sharing your stories of Gary and for letting me share some of mine. I couldn't help but think that somewhere close by... Gary was riding a mini bike with a big ear to ear grin on his face and smiling at us.

Thank you Mr. Irons for opening your home and hearts to us.

Sincerely,
DG