Tuesday, March 15, 2022
Shane you are my first friend. I was 5 when my family moved to Hatfield Point in early January. One of my fist memories was you, sitting in a few feet of snow on a lawn w/ a frozen fish in your hand. ha!
When we weren’t on one of your dad’s toys that first winter, we sledded on that old toboggan and skated with a sheet between us on the bay every day. As the weather warmed, I can only imagine the fools he thought of us, constantly secretive in the barn, finding every dark corner. Filling up squirt guns w/ lord only knows and chasing each other around the cows. Gross! BB gun wars in the hay loft. I still have a chipped front tooth from driving my BMX bike down those barn stairs. The cap falls off the tooth every few years and I have to get it redone. So that’s what I think about in the dentist’s chair - Richard covering up for me when my mom asked what happened to my tooth. I remember being terrified that mom would kill me. I can hear Richard laughing at me now.
He really provided such a great youth. He gave us a real 'boys will be boys’ allowance. We had horse whips and shotguns and huge pine trees to fall from. But Richard showed us safety - unbelievably, he was able to cut through the chaos and have a real voice of reason in my life. I can remember him showing me (us) how to do so so so many things. And not just 'show' me, but brand the WHY we do things safely into my mind. All the chaos of those summers and I can still hear Richard telling the two of us to be careful. And I think we kind of listened?
I think the only time I ever thought of Richard negatively was when Shane and I got in a (pretty standard boyish) debate about who would win in a fight - Richard or my Grandfather. Ha. Hahah! Can you imagine Charlie Burns and Richard Sprague squaring off? (Richard would have won, hands down). I think they’d both of played along, just for our entertainment.
Into our teenage years Shane and I went. Mandy laughing (and making fun of us) all the time. We saw Richard on his motorcycle for a summer? Down at the cabin. Into the woods. Trout fishing. Eel fishing. Listening to Nirvana in a tent. Singing to GnR at the cabin. The absurdity of puberty - he must’ve thought we were insane. Were we?!? Chasing girls, chasing anything. Richard nearby chuckling at us, but watching us - making sure we were ok.
Shane and Mandy and your families - Of all life's coming and going, and the wear and friction played on our mind at times - for me, those memories are the brightest. Nothing has faded them. There were hard times in both our families, we share those memories. But your dad was a quiet champion. Laughing, glowing, hard working, being constant. In my mind, your dad is and will always be right there on a warm summer day, split between moments - at the farm, at the trailer, working on something, fishing. All of them, Richard smiling.
I’m grateful beyond words that I was able to spend my formative time with you all and Richard. There are lessons I learned from your Dad that I am still paying forward into my kids. How to be safe, how to be outdoors, how to work, and to laugh it off.
Sending love from my family to yours in hopes we can share some stories in person soon.
Love,
Jason Burns
