How could you not?
Michael Barbus was the heart of Wildwood NJ. You could tell when Mike was around because everyone in the room was smiling. Everyone in the room was laughing. Nobody was in a bad mood. It was impossible. Mike didn't have much because he didn't need much of anything. Just his friends, a place to sleep and his brother Shane. His best friend Jim. His mom and a beer. He had the best jokes. I was his girlfriend. He loved to put his arm around my shoulder and make sure everyone knew I was his, he would show me off. He was proud to have me under his arm. He made me feel special and pretty and better then anyone in my entire life had ever made me feel up until that point in my life. I immediately fell in love with him. He showed me a side of Wildwood I didn't know existed. Where the "locals" lived, off the boardwalk. The neighborhood kids loved him. There were all these "gangs" in Wildwood. Bloods and Crypts. I had no idea there were gangs in Wildwood. Apparently, bandana's are called "flags". Blue ones and red ones. I grew up in Philadelphia and didn't know this. So he started a "dodge ball gang" with all the kids in the neighborhood that were being recruited to join the "gangs". They thought they had to. So mike started a dodge ball gang instead. He bought a bunch of black bandanas and recruited them to join his gang. They all started wearing black bandanas and called him Mr. Mike. When he started bringing me around, they started calling me Mrs. Mandi, and we all played dodgeball together in the "streets of Wildwood" off the boardwalk late at night LOL Real tough gang we were... we ran the streets.... Losing Mike was a tragedy. For the entire island. It was like the ferris wheel was never going to light up again. The waves stopped crashing. The ocean just swollowed up the island and it drowned. It sunk. Then, I met his brother Shane. And all the lights turned back on again... and the Island came back to life. I knew that I could never replace his brother Mike. But I told Shane that if I let me, I promised I would a sister to him, it was the least that I could do. I am so thankful that he gave me that opportunity. And since then, Mike has blessed me with his brother Shane, and I have been living with Mikes angel since his death, his brother Shane. And our families have been enjoying each other ever since. My daughter Brianna has an Uncle Shane. What she doesnt know, is that is actually her Angel Mike, that she never met, from 5 year before her birth, in 2008. RIP Mike Barbus xoxo
