Pete loved his family dearly, especially his mom. We would go visit them in Florida just so he could have some of her homemade lasagna, or anything that she made for that matter. When she passed he was devastated, but I never seen him cry, but I knew he was because I could hear him sniffling and swollen eyes, but that was okay. He did the same thing when his sister Tammy passed away, he talked about her as if she was still here all the time. Pete would walk through the front door with his phone on his ear and I could just tell that he was talking to his sister Doris, they talked everyday. He would get off the phone with her and call Bruce, Duane, or Larry, he would try to talk to everyone at least once a day. He would always make time to call his dad, especially on his birthday, Peter would wake up early and tell me it's dad's birthday I have to call him. He loved talking on the phone to his family, he would speak to others in his family also, Mary Ellen, Angela, Casey, long lost cousins, etc. I know I will miss talking to him and I know everyone else is still waiting for their phone to ring and here "What's up, what you doing."

This is one of the few pictures of us as a family. Peter and I decided to take the kids to the Bahamas for Christmas one year, he knew that was the one way to get everyone in the same place at the same time, he knew it meant so much to me and didn't care about the cost. We had so much fun there, and nobody got into too much trouble there. Pete was always grower closer to my children, he treated them the same as his own son. Ashley knew Pete was her stepfather, but she felt like he was her real dad. I can still remember him picking her up and dancing with her when she was still little. Derek was our little trouble maker, they butted heads a lot but Peter always was the first to give Derek a 2nd, 3rd, 4th chance. Nikki was the one that always stayed closest to us, moved in our home with her 1st husband, then moved only 10 minutes away. Peter always had some kind of joke for Nikki, she would take the joke wrong sometimes, but if Pete was joking about you it was his way of expressing how much he loved you without having to step out of his man boots. Nikki gave him the best gift ever, his first grandchild, Ava, because of that he would turn a blind eye to anything Nikki did wrong. Peter always wanted our kids to be good people when they grew up, so sometimes he nagged at them, but he was doing it out of the love he had for them. He did not have to love my children but he did, he was one of those guys that women are always hoping to find, a loving, caring stepfather.

This is Pete's son Matthew, he may not have told him everyday how much he loved him, but he did, otherwise he would have never called him just to bs about whatever, just so he could hear his voice, or constantly invite him over, Pete didn't like people in his house, only those he loved. I can still remember having conversations with Pete and Matt was in our daily talks. When Pete and I first married he would talk about how he regretted missing so much of Matt's younger life, because he worked a lot, and wished he could make it up to him. Then came a time Matt moved in with us, Peter was so happy that his boy was finally by his side, it let him know that his boy did love him, but as time went on Matt moved back with his mom and Pete really took it hard. We talked about Matt's moving out a lot and I always told him make sure you tell him "I love you", not to just assume he knows it, well we know how guys are so he didn't say it as often as he should have but he did love that boy so much. Pete and Matt look so much alike, I hope that Matt continues to grow up following in his father's footprints, to be the best, loving, and funny person that Peter was. Love you son, your dad would be so proud of you if he could talk to you today, and he would tell you how much he loves you.