Today Pete and I celebrated our 22nd wedding anniversary. We have known each other for 25 years. I knew who Pete was before I met him in 1984. We both hosted radio shows on different stations in Baltimore. I was born in Bermuda but grew up in Baltimore. Pete had arrived in Baltimore from Houston via Philadelphia. The market was buzzing about this high energy, "Hot Hits" radio format that was about to debut. But what really got people's attention was this guy who was on 6-10pm named the" Night Wolf." We had never heard a radio personality sound quite that way. He did not sound like Wolfman Jack. There was just this crazy, over-the-top energy and dialogue coming out of the radio with more personality in 10 seconds than some people can deliver in 5 minutes. That was Pete!
The day I met Pete, it was a sweltering day in Baltimore. It was June 1984 and we were both volunteering to help raise money for the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. Pete showed up in shorts that day, his socks pulled up straight to his knees with a wallet stuffed in one of the socks. Have you ever tried to pretend that you did not notice the obvious? My pupils dilated immediately and I did a double take, afraid to blink and feeling like my eyes were stuck sideways, as my gaze slowly fell to and then fixated on those white socks and conspicuous wallet. I remember thinking, "Wow! I wonder where he stored his keys?"
A few weeks after our initial meeting we met up again and Pete made me laugh, but not because his wallet was stuffed in his socks this time! I invited Pete to a cookout with a few other friends and he turned me down. He told me he had to head home for the weekend to suburban Philadelphia to visit his family (a place I would later discover had the coolest shopping mall in the country; even better than Mall of America) so his mother could do his laundry! What is it about some guys and their laundry? Maybe if there was a remote for that too! But, I would discover that the reason his Mom did his wash was because after working a full week Pete traveled from Baltimore to suburban Philadelphia to volunteer as an ambulance driver in his hometown. The more I got to know Pete the more it was obvious that he had a big heart and an even bigger sense of humor. Pete's a pretty funny guy and his humor has helped to get us through some of the toughest moments in our lives. We were married June 27, 1987 on a beautiful sunny day. There was a brief afternoon shower and then a double rainbow. The expression “For the Love of Pete,” has had many meanings over the years and has filled our lives with countless memories as we embarked on a journey of love, friendship, faith, laughs, triumphs and heartaches - with never a dull moment. I love you Pete!
