It has been almost a month since I lost my best friend and I can�t stop thinking about him. I know this is normal and I am not complaining. On the contrary, I enjoy thinking of him. Joyful memories of him are thought of daily. He even comes to me in my dreams just about every other night. They are not bad dreams, just dreams as if he never left. Every time he pops into my head I get a sense that he is alright and is watching me. I am sure if he is watching me, he is also watching over Deni, Madi, Ethan, Elaine, Whitey and Matt. That makes me happy to think that we are blessed with a true angel to watch over us all.
It is great to read the guestbook and see that he was genuinely a great person that touched everyone he met. You can see that in the repetitive nature of the entries. You could hear the same qualities listed in Barry�s speech at the funeral. Creative, talented, gentle, exceptional, and funny are just some of my favorite traits that are listed and what I think of when I think of Rich. He was that and more to many of us. I was a bit surprised when I saw the volume of people he did leave a lasting impression on, but I don�t know why. He had a definite air about him that attracted people to him. It seemed that every time he was among people, he had their utmost attention. This was amazing because Rich was not out spoken or an �in your face� kind of guy. He was laid back and unassuming and yet everyone often waited to hear what he had to say. Rich had a great gift of welcoming you right back into his life each time you saw him. Ron Volpe said it best at the funeral, (I will try to paraphrase it) you could always just pick up where you left off with Rich, no matter how long it was since your last visit with him. These are the reasons and there are many more that Rich is a great friend to have.
I think me and Rich got along together so well because we complemented each other. He was the idea-man and I was the detail man. He had so many ideas that I would feed off of and then we would build those ideas together. We had similar senses of humor, but not the same. His was more dry humor and mine was more frank humor, but we got each other�s jokes every time. Many times we would sit around and say things that only each other would get and laugh like we haven�t heard any thing so hilarious in all our lives. Not so much inside jokes, but just things that only we would think is comical. We had similar tastes in music, but not the same. He liked more pop music and I liked music with a little bit of an edge. We did get spotted at many concerts together; from Van Halen to Sarah McLachlan. We had similar likes and dislikes, but never all the same.
The sadness I felt when he was in the hospital and while I was at the funeral has turned to serenity now. Don�t get me wrong, I miss him immensely when I think of the future and the plans we had, both spoken and imagined by myself. I try not to do that anymore because that is out of my hands. So instead I try just remembering the past when I think of Rich. I have encountered hindrance with my memory; I�m not able to think of certain details, but just the wholeness of our relationship and the happiness I felt every time I was with him. I think I will start to write them down as they come to me, so that I don�t lose them forever. I will do this so that I can remember these stories forever and tell Madi and Ethan about their dad�s life from my prospective. Amy said there was a reason that he recorded, video-taped, and photographed everything he did, and now we all know why. I think that it is my turn to return the favor to him and write stories that Rich and I did that were special to me. I just hope he can be my muse and help me write as accurate and as humorous as he did.
So now I will try to interpret some stories that Rich and I shared together that hopefully will be amusing and shed a little light on our relationship. Most of all, I hope they give Madi and Ethan the answer to the question, �Who was my dad?� |
