That’s a big subject. Mostly because Nick was a big person. An enormous person in fact. Huge. Not so much in stature, although he was about six feet tall, but he was a big persona, with a lot of charisma and talent, and a huge amount of charm. He was funny, to the point of outrageous, had a great sense of humor and a dazzling smile. He liked girls, of all shapes and sizes and ages. Women. And always did. By the time he was four, he was already flirting with girls, and never stopped!
He loved his family, adored his dog Molly, was crazy about his friends. He made a huge impression on everyone he met. I still get letters about him from people now, some of whom only met him once, but have remembered him ever since.
He was a wonderful writer, he loved to write dark scary stories, and had an infallible sense of timing in what he wrote. But his passion was always music. At five, he listened to the same kind of music (and discussed it intelligently) as his teenage siblings and their peers. At first, they thought he was kidding, when he would start talking about groups, and then they realized he knew what he was talking about--often more than they. He played music by then too. The guitar mostly. He played around with the clarinet, and he had a terrific voice.
One of the most impressive things about Nick, at any age, and particularly later on, was seeing him onstage. At thirteen, he started his first band. At fifteen, he was recording with friends. At sixteen, he joined Link 80, a punk rock band, and played with them for three years. He toured around the country extensively with them. And just before he died, after he left Link 80, he started a band called ‘Knowledge’. He formed the band about a month before he died, and it has since disbanded, although they recorded one very good CD before they did. Link 80 still exists. There are 3 CD’s that he recorded with Link 80, and a number of others where he performed a song or two.
As a little kid, at school, he loved being in his school’s Lip Synch contest every year, and took it very seriously. He made his friends rehearse for months, perfected their performance, and usually ransacked my closet for his costumes, along with my wigs and favorite boots.
But once he was performing with Link 80, his performances were incredible. He leapt, he jumped, he sang, he danced, the crowds loved him, and I loved watching him.
I would stand in the back proudly, and smile to myself, thinking…Wow…that’s my kid!
He was a wonderful boy. We adored each other, always did. I found a paper he’d written for school when he was about eleven, and framed a part of it the other day. It says “I do have a certain bond with my mother that I don’t have with anyone else. I don’t know why that is, but that’s just how we turned out.” It touched my heart, so many things about Nick did. He will be forever missed.