This is a tribute
to John Tenta Jr. and Big John Tenta. I have been a part of their family for
nearly 3 years. The thing is, I have never seen John or his family in person. I
Meet John Tenta Jr. on an old site called coke music in 2003 winter break. John
was 10; though for a year and a half he laid saying he was 16. I was 13 when I
meet him and we talked nearly every day on coke music.
After a while I convinced
him to get yahoo IM so I wouldn’t have to be on coke music just to talk to him.
We talked everyday on there and we knew pretty much everything. I got him
out of the habit of saying sorry so much that is still with him today. I've
been there was John from when he lived in Florida and that crush on Taylor to
his new apartment in Texas and his girlfriend Maryam. Used to John would let me
listen to his rock music for hours but I hardly ever did. I listened to his dad
watch TV then his sister coming by and poking john or saying hi Marcie. One
time John forgot to turn off his microphone and heard the family get around the
table and eats dinner. They laughed and talked, told about each other’s day and
joked around. While I was listening to john music another day his whole family
got in a super ball fight. John’s sister threw a super ball at johns head then
john got one and threw it and it hit his dad and everything went from there. Their
family was a picture perfect one or the most functional family I ever
encountered.
John told me about his dads
wrestling carrier though he was there to experience it like his older brother
and sister did. I searched John Tenta and I found so much information on the
Internet. He was the first most successful sumo wrestler in Japan. He was from
Canada. He was in a wrestling team called "the natural disasters"
before he made a solo carrier. Then he went to WCW as Shark, later avalanche.
Then he became the most famous wrestler I heard of, Golgi, when he went back to
WWC. He was featured in South Park, had action figures, and featured in some
wresting games. I remember his trademark was an Eric Cart man plushy. His life
outside the ring was hardly bothered.
John Tanta’s life outside
the ring a few years out of the public eye he had personal struggles. His
family supported him through many health boundaries. In 2004 John Tenta was
diagnosed with cancer. It was cancer of the bladder which spread to his lungs
and tailbone. John and his family headed to Houston, Texas for him to check
into the hospital there. John yr. and the rest of the family other than his
older brother stayed in a motel that whole summer. John Jr. brought his laptop
to keep in touch with his friends at home and still talk to me. I was there for
him every day, I even downloaded aim for him when he couldn’t download yahoo on
his laptop. I drew him a picture on MS paint with my then obsession called “Bobby’s”.
I made him describe what he was wearing and what his hair looked like and even
the carpet of the hotel floor to draw him a self-portrait blobby. He loved
those things and he still has them saved to his computer to this day.
His family decided to move
to Houston, Texas to stay close to the hospital. I didn’t talk to him for about
a month while they were moving things between Florida and Texas. Once I did it
was like a homecoming, he had things to tell me that he has been waiting to
tell me for a month. He described his house, the school he was going to, and
his neighborhood. It sounded picture perfect and couldn’t be any more fitting
for the family.
The summer of 2005 I nearly
got to meet them. I even saw their house and they were inside. But before that
John and I got in a huge fight. He didn’t want me to meet him because he had
something to tell me but he just couldn’t. I was close to Houston, Texas
because I have a lot of family there. My dad had a couple of cousins that
worked at NASA and we were going to stay at their house for a week. I was
determined to meet john and I even bought new clothes. I found his address on a
people searching site then found the directions on map quest. My dad wasn’t for
it but he was ready to go if I was. When we got to my dad’s cousins house I got
on their computer automatically and emailed john saying I was as close as 23
miles to him. He emailed me back yelling. We nearly stopped talking forever
right then, but I was too stubborn. I told him that he was too important in my
life not to meet him in person. He said if I couldn’t handle the fact that he
didn’t want to meet then we shouldn’t be friends any more. I backed down. I
told him if that was going to happen I could wait to meet him. My dad surprised
me the last day there and started going off the highway home. I asked where we
were going and he said you wanted to see your friend right? I told him that I
decided I couldn’t meet him; daddy was just as stubborn as me. He set up the
GPS system to go straight to john’s house. I didn’t complain though, I was too
curious to see my best friend’s house. We went through a nice neighborhood full
of kids on their bikes and kids at the playground. There at the end of a
cul-de-sac was John Tanta’s house. It was a little small from the front and had
a little front yard. There was a big bush in front of a big open window. I
nearly suck to the floor but peering over the window. Daddy threaten the honk
the horn or get out and knock on the door, I nearly cried telling him don’t. He
didn’t and we just drove away back on the highway.
When back home I told john
what happened, John was really glad I didn’t knock on the door. I ask again why
he couldn’t tell me what he had to tell me. He said I don’t ever drop anything.
So I stopped asking. After that I meet John’s friend Andrew. Andrew once told
me that john was in 6th grade…I over reacted so Andrew said it was a joke. I told john
about it and he used my trust in him to not believe Andrew. Andrew got fed up
John lying to me to he showed me a conversation on aim were John didn’t deny he
wasn’t 12. He confessed to me when I showed him that piece of proof and said it
would be ok with him if I didn’t ever want to talk to him again. I told him age
doesn’t matter anymore. John was mad at Andrew for a very long time.
I am 15 now and John turned
13 back on March 12th. I'm still the same from when we meet but he went off and got his
first girlfriend. I was there to help if he wanted to ask something about girls
and didn’t want to ask his girlfriend. I got him out of a lot of tight spot
while they were fighting and he needed something smart to say. Through the
summer though they’ve only talked to each other on AIM. John makes a perfect
boyfriend somewhat he tells me. Just Like I thought he would. He found a great
girl that can keep up with his silliness. But if she hurts him I’ll...*twitch*….
she just better not.
Yesterday was 6-6-06. On a
forum site called Gaia Online I made many threads about how that day would
symbolize to some people the mark of the beast and how things bad are going to
happen because of the people that believed in that. I didn’t expect something
like my dear friends father dyeing. It surprised me how fast that kind of news
can hit you. It got me thinking about what I was saying to him. And how much I
didn’t think while saying things. To me I sounded like some person that
standing there and nods and looks said while people are crying because what
I’ve said sounded so planned out. These things we say and how we say them, it
all goes back to what we picked up. We have an assumption that the things other
people say in a time of grieving is all we can say. But the thing is we have
nothing else to say but what we learned. Because though that death is in the
world every day we don’t have to personally deal with it until it is in our
way. I wanted what I say have at least an ounce of originality buts it’s not in
me. This is when online chatting become the coldest. I was with him always as
words and that was the most I could give him. I know now I am not more than
just words to him. And I have always been a real person apart of John’s life
and his family’s. Just as John was a part of my daily conversation for these
years we spent together, my family made him apart of us. We have affected each
other’s lives and it seems the day we will stop talking will never come. And I
hope it won’t ever come. Though threw time things and people change memories
held dear won’t fade. John Tenta Sr. is no longer here with us but the happy
memories with him will stay with his family, his fans, his friends, and some
girl in Arkansas that is close to his son. I’ll end this tribute and
bibliography saying John Tenta was a great man that changed lives and his son
will grow to be just as great and just as kind. Thank you for being a part of
my life as well as many others, both of you.
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