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During the year of 1985, my Ray Reyes was getting too tall too fast and was forced to retire from Menudo. He was 15 years old and he was only with the group for two years. I thought it was very sad to see him go, and I thought I wouldn't be able to see him ever again, and thought he would live a private life in Puerto Rico for the rest of his life.
Ray Reyes got to introduce the world to his replacement and believe it or not, he was another Ray, but he allowed the world to call him, Raymond Acevedo to make things less complicated.
 Menudo sang their number one English hit, "Hold Me" that year. I loved that song, and I loved the music video along with it. The video showed a lot of footages of Robby Rosa, who was the lead singer of that song. Charlie was also shown a lot in the video, but I didn't complain. I enjoyed watching Charlie in anything at the time. However, I didn't think the video showed enough of the other three guys, especially Little Ricky. Roy Rossello was busy chasing after a blonde all over... Raymond was known as the shy one of the group, so you would notice that he buried himself in a crowd of teenagers in the video.
Every thing was great for Menudo until a year later when Roy left the group, and his replacement was a wild boy named, Sergio Blass. Things changed a lot when Robby and Charlie left, and I was really missing my boys from Menudo, and the newer members were too young for me, so I was starting to lose interest... Ruben Gomez who replaced Robby became Sergio's shadow instantly.
I decided to continue supporting Menudo until the day when Little Ricky Martin retires, and I did... Like Ray Reyes Leon, Charlie Rivera Masso, and Johnny Lozada, I didn't think I would see Little Ricky Martin anymore. Since he was my number one favorite Menudo member, I didn't want to ever forget him. I saved all of my pictures of him in a box in my closet until I had to move during the Summer of 1993, and sadly, I had to get rid of all of my Menudo pictures and posters.
Charlie got to stay with Menudo until he was 17 years old. He also introduced the world to his replacement Ralphy Rodriguiz. Ralphy was so short and small and looked like he came up to Charlie's waist. Ralphy stayed with Menudo for only a year. He realized that being away from his family for long periods of time wasn't his thing. The world understood why he left and didn't think any less of him.
Even though Ricky Martin and Raymond Acevedo were still with the group. I was really missing my boys that were from the group 1983-1985. In my opinion, Raymond didn't look happy anymore and he started to keep his distance from the other guys (including Little Ricky). I think Raymond was anxious to retire and get on with a new life. He left the group quietly just like Robby Rosa. Raymond retired during 1988 and Little Ricky left during 1989.
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