In 1982 I walked in the Days Inn Chester to apply for a part time job and this lady I have called my friend of 39 years. Dawn gave me a application. I got the job and we became friends that day. We traveled to Utica New York (Dawn's family) with her 4 kids in my Camaro. If I had a dollar for every time we loaded up my car on Thanksgiving weekend and hit the road. Jimmy sat on my lap(yes I was driving) sherry on Dawn's lap Brandy & Shawn in the back seat with all of our junk. One of them trips I was stopped by a New York State Trooper who said Mr. Pierce the laws you have broken tonight. Where do I start. The little boy sitting on your lap is a no no.No seat belt, The little girl sitting on your friends lap is a no no. No one in this car has a seat belt on that includes the 2 in the back seat. Now I could write all them tickets and you would be paying out of the ass to the state of New York for a long time. But something is telling me there is a reason why. So I will say GIVE JIMMY AND SHERRY TO THE TWO IN THE BACK, AND ALL WILL PUT THERE SEAT BELT ON. AND YOU WILL SLOW THIS CAR DOWN , YALL LOOK SO PITIFUL. IF I STOP THIS CAR AGAIN FOR ANY REASON YOU WILL GET EVERY TICKET I SHOULD HAVE WRITTEN TONIGHT AND THE TICKET FOR THE REASON I STOPPED YOU THEN. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME. YES SIR I DO. THANK YOU FOR FEELING SORRY FOR THIS PITIFUL BUNCH. WE GOT BACK ON THE ROAD AND JIMMY GOT BACK IN MY LAP,SHERRY GOT BACK IN DAWNS LAP THE TWO IN THE BACK SEAT WAS NOW HAPPY. JIMMY PEADED ALL OVER ME. WHAT A TRIP WE HAD AND WE JUST GOT STARTED. We took a many trip over the years. I felt like I was the Daddy of those kids. I was happy to be a father figure to them. Dawm and I became close friends living in the same apartment complex. The kids was at my place as much as they were at home. Over the years Dawn and myself, would go out and get drunk. We shared a lot of,memories and had many happy times hanging out with each other and with other friends. At some point Dawn and the kids moved back to New York. She became a nurse and did good for herself and the kids. In 2008 I and my daughter Courtney and my grandson Jayden moved up to New York. We were needing a change. I did get to see those kids who by now all were grown up. Dawn and myself would hang out at each other's house. By this time Dawn had to go on Disability. She had cancer and became very depressed. It was so hard to see this woman who I have called my friend for so many years look down and out. In 2019 My friend of 39 years gave up the good fight and she wanted to be with her second born Brandy who passed away a few years earlier in a car accident. But something strange happened a week before she passed away. She called me ( I had moved back to Virginia after 5 1/2 years) and she sounded so good to me. Dawn talked and made plans to come to Virginia and spend a week with me laying around the pool and being lazy. She was do up lifting. I had heard my friend sound like her old self. I was happy that she was coming to see me for a week and then going to Newport News to spend time with her brother Carl and his beautiful wife Carla. Exactly 1 week later I got on Facebook for the first time in many months and I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Sherry had posted that her Momna Dawn Marie Hamlin passed away last night from cancer. My heart was beating so fast I couldn't deal her home number. I had dialed that number so many times I knew it by heart. 315-792-4649. But for the life of me I couldn't remember her number. I had to go find my address book and look it up. Jimmy answered the phone and I said "Jimmy" he said Uncle Paul Ma passed away last night. We cried so much we had to hang up the phone. I didn't sleep at all that night. Then 2 days later I'm planning a trip up state New York to attend my friend's funeral and I hot sick with Pneumonia. My Dr. told me I better not go to New York. It was cold and they had so much snow that my Dr. said Paul you have Pneumonia and going up there in that cold weather was bad for me. My friend Dawn has died and I can't go to her funeral. I needed to go and see Shawn, Sherry and Jimmy. But most of all a be there for them kids to send a final farewell to my good friend that I had known for 39 years but I couldn't go because I had to get this dam Pneumonia. I called Jimmy and told him I was so sick and can't make this last trip It would be my last time going to New York. I had been up for Brandy's funeral and for Jessica's funeral. But most of all I wanted to be there so bad to see Dawn and the kids(I still call them kids) but Shawn was now like 32. So I had to keep my ass in this bed and try to get better maybe go up in a couple of weeks. I so sick for 14 days I thought I would have to go to the hospital and stay until I was better. Jimmy called me and said Uncle Paul you stay home and get better. We are going to have a memorial in the spring or summer. I was so glad to hear him say that to me. I got the picture box out and found some of Dawn and the kids from one of them many mini trips we would take. Then Dawn would go to her Dads house and steal a bottle of Seguin seven and when we would get home we would get drunk on Dawn's daddy's booze. If he ever found out he would have a cow. You didn't mess with Mr. Hamlin's booze. So I finally got better and mourned by myself the loss of someone I spent do many years loving my friend. Every Year when it gets cold I know its been another year has passed since my life wasn't the same anymore. So many people I know and love has died. It gets harder and harder to send another friend or family member away. But I can remember all those many memories that we spent having a good time. To this day when I enter the state of New York I automatically slow down and have a little chuckle of that one trip I should have payed New York a couple hundred dollars and feel the pee getting me soaked. Dawn Marie Hamlin-Slattery-Hamlin I love you and miss you so much. It's still hard for me to think that Brandy Jessica & You are not there anymore. I will see you again one day. So keep the family and friends laughing till I get there.