Laken remembers Joey

Joey and I met in high school when I was a sophomore and he was a junior. I have so many memories of Joey I don’t even know where to start. They range from San Francisco, my cabin in Santa Cruz, all the weddings we went to together, fishing trips, snowboarding at dodge and bear valley, formals and proms, family gatherings, Giants games, to the first time I ever went to the fair, and I know I didn’t even name half of them. He was more than just my boyfriend for a couple years; he was one of my best friends for years after that. We would talk about anything and everything from our families, our friends, our jobs, to whoever we were dating at the time. His personality and heart were like no other.

We started dating on December 2, 2003 and his other boyfriend, Blake, and my best friend, Emily, started dating on December 4, 2003. Us four did pretty much everything together for the next two years. Almost every weekend Joey would drive my suburban and we would all go snowboarding up at Dodge. He LOVED to embarrass Emily and me by turning up the system as loud as it would go with all windows down and playing RUCA by Sublime. I would duck down in my seat. The first time he took me snowboarding he took me on the frontside on that run that has the little curve. He rode the lift up there with me and I totally ate it getting off and pulled him down with me. I was so mad because then he left me with Emily who wouldn’t even teach me. I was done after a half day and he learned not to leave me and started making snowboarding trips for just the two of us. ha-ha. The trips didn’t last though, I always ended up with Emily and he always ended up with Blake.

My family tried to throw me a surprise birthday party for my 16th birthday and let’s just say it wasn’t much of a surprise. My mom ruined it by leaving the invitations in her closet and Joey gave it away even more the day of the party. He was driving in his little S10 that I could totally hear on the phone probably going to pick up Blake and he was trying to convince me he was at home. We ended up getting in a little argument because I knew he was lying but he was just trying not to ruin my surprise. Sure enough when I get to my grandma’s house I see Joey, Blake, Emily, Nikki, and Shella. Joey always felt like he had to impress my dad for my dad to like him. We started a game of volleyball with all us volleyball girls on one team plus Joey and Blake, and my family on the other. Joey would not let anyone touch that ball unless it was Blake. It was so funny to watch him try to act like he was the best at volleyball because he was horrible. We were all just laughing at him because he thought he was so good and was trying so hard to impress my dad. He just didn’t know that my dad already liked him. Once we left we had six people in my little maxima car. Joey was driving and he looks at me and goes, “let’s see how fast we can go” No one else liked this idea because we had too many people in the car in the first place. Next thing you know were going 120mph down 28 mile road. He always loved to get a rise out of everyone.

Joey and I had a thing with weddings. Ever since we started dating we went to every family or friend’s wedding together if we were dating or not. The last two we went to together were his cousin Peter’s and my aunt Sharon’s. I was supposed to be his driver at his cousin’s wedding but then his sister Adri and I ended up having way too much fun and Virginia had to drive us home. I just remember the next morning Joey sitting in the kitchen making fun of me, like always, and saying how everyone was mad at me. He loved to get me all scared and then he tells me they’re not mad at me they’re mad at Adri. Ha-ha he always knew how to get to me. The last wedding we went to together was my aunt’s about a month after his cousins. It was in Santa Barbara and he drove down on a Friday night after work. The next day was the wedding and he was so mad at me because his tie was in my Tahoe from his cousin’s wedding and chocolate had melted on it and plus he didn’t have time to iron it. I thought it was funny but he always wanted to look his best and even though I kept telling him he looked fine, for once Joey didn’t say “I know I do” because his tie was wrinkled. He could be so stubborn sometimes. The day of his sister’s wedding I got a text message from him saying, “Laken I’m so upset I can’t stop crying and I don’t know who to talk to”. I remember thinking wow and you text me that. He loves his sisters so much and it made him realize how everyone was growing up. I loved knowing that he knew I was always there for him as I knew he was always there for me.

When my mom called and told me what had happened to Joey I told her she was wrong; she has the wrong Joey. Never in my life did I expect to never be able to talk to him or see him again. He was who I would talk to about all my problems and he would tell me nothing but the truth if I liked it or not. With all of this being my problem, it is so hard not to get his advice. I can always picture his smile and his little smirk he would often make when he would say “I’m Joey P., everybody loves me”. I always used to laugh at him and say “yah okay Joey you think that”. He was right though and he knew it. I will always love Joey just as much as I always have. Not a day goes by that I don’t think of him and pray for his family. I always think about how myself or someone else could have been able to prevent this from happening but there is nothing I can do about it now but look forward to seeing him again. I pray there will be justice for Joey because he deserves it. I miss you Joey and I will love you forever and always.



Love, your old lady, Laken