Today I lost my brother Troy. He succumbed to a dreaded disease that no person should have to endure. Though I wasn’t able to be with him at his passing I know he was surrounded by loved ones who knew him as a friend, father and husband. He fought his cancer with determination and dignity. Troy always seemed to handle life on his terms, he left this world the same way. It always seemed that things didn’t happen to Troy, Troy happened to things. While growing up Troy always seemed to set the example for me. I looked up to him as the ideal I wanted to be. He always seemed to know just what to do in any given situation. If he didn’t know how to do a certain thing, I can remember him teaching himself how to play the guitar, he would practice it and practice it until he could do it well enough to be proficient. Troy had a unique talent to self-teach most anything he wanted to do. He often told me as a kid, “Don’t depend on someone else to do it for you, learn to do it yourself”. Little did I know at the time just how much this would govern my life from then point on. It just made so much sense that I couldn’t argue against it. If ever there was a real life Fonzy, Troy was it. He had a certain knack for making anything he was doing “the” cool thing to do at the time. He knew what cool was or if it wasn’t he could make it so. Wherever he was at is where it was happening. Something I never realized until I was much older. Most of us know someone like that, I grew up with it. Yet for living this charmed life, for lack of a better term, he was not a conceited that person. He seemed to somehow keep it in perspective, and he always seemed to have a place in the back of his mind that he went to where you couldn’t tell what he was thinking. Troy had a way of giving support and encouragement to whatever I was doing. While teaching me to drive a stick shift in his 57 VW Bug he just bought he never said a word when I ground the gears, he only told me I would know if I did it wrong. So we practiced pushing in the clutch then shift, and release the pedal - SLOWLY. I had it down in about half an hour. Troy accomplished more by the age of twenty than most of us do in a lifetime. In high school he wasn’t interested in playing football or basketball, so he took up the excruciating sport of water polo. This sport gave him the physique that one sees on modern day models, 6 pack and all. He loved to go surfing with my older brother Bob. So they would skip school to spend the day at the beach. He wanted to learn to be a pilot, so he got a job working at an airport in exchange for flying lessons. I can still remember him taking his first solo flight, then giving us all a ride once he got his license. He loved to freak us out doing zero-G maneuvers. He joined a dance group just because it looked like fun, he got his picture in the paper in the middle of a dance pose, something I teased him about mercilessly. He took it well and when he showed me how hard it is to do, well, I backed off a couple of notches. When he decided to join the Navy we all thought he was crazy, except for my Dad. A decision that turned out to be the best thing he ever did. “Are you nuts”? I asked him. “No man, the Navy’s cool”. “Beats being a jarhead eating sand on some beach” He definitely knew where he didn’t want to go. I remember when we got his civilian clothes back in the mail. Enclosed was a poor photo of him with his recruit buzz cut. We all had a chuckle at that one. We were all happy to see Troy settle down with a good woman. Jean was the perfect wife for Troy. Beautiful, smart and an excellent mother. When his children came along he settled down into the role of being a father and provider. In my last conversation with him I told him not to worry about leaving a legacy, I said ‘just look at how your kids turned out, it speaks volumes about yours and Jeans character, for if your children are a reflection of you, then you shine like the sun”. I went on to tell him that his grandchildren are being raised in the same fashion because of the example he showed his kids. If I could place an epitaph upon his tombstone it would read, “Here lies Troy Barricklow, he always took the time” Took the time with me, his wife, and especially with his family. Troy, you will be sorely missed. May God in his infinite mercy grant you grace.
Posted on: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 19:56:06 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015