18 April 2007 - Our friend Ricky leaves us and journeys to his place in the kingdom of heaven.
21 April 2007 - We, his friends, and his family bid him a final farewell.
Looking at the picture on the right
(taken outside the crematorium at Manila Memorial with Ricky's son Rocky where Ricky was then being cremated) I find myself thinking,
"if only Ricky could see us now." But then who is to say he wasn't watching us at the time? And smiling with us while we reminisced about all the times we spent together on VA and NWA activities. I bet he was chuckling at the anecdotes about the "lap dance of death" from his "victims".
Yes, death is a sad event, and yet we choose not to wallow in our friend's death but rather would celebrate the life he has lived. Ricky has touched so many lives and has been a positive influence to so many people that it seems impossible to believe he won't be there to joke around with. Even talking about him in the past tense seems wrong.
Ricky, someday, we will all join you up there, and when we do, we will party geek-style --- with a convention to top all conventions!
This may seem inappropriate but Ricky was a big fan of Monty Python so I would like to share some lines from Monty Python and the Holy Grail which I found highly amusing.
Dingo:
You must spank her well, and after you are done with her, you may deal with her as you like... and then... spank me.
All:
And me. And me too. And me.
Dingo:
Yes. Yes, you must give us all a good spanking.
Dingo:
And after the spanking, the oral sex.
Galahad:
Well, I could stay a bit longer...
To quote Dr. McCoy, "In this galaxy, there's a mathematical probability of three million
Earth-type planets. And in all of the universe, three million million
galaxies like this. And in all of that... and perhaps more, only one of
each of us." There can be only one Ricky Sunico and we are privileged to have known you.
Safe journey, Ricky, and adieu!
