Wednesday, January 13, 2021
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On Christmas Day, when I first heard of Bob's passing, I was understandably shocked. Larger than life characters like Bob just don't go so quickly. I tried my best, like I always do, to not feel the pain of this loss but I also knew right then that my escape would only be temporary; the heart always wins out in the end. So today I let myself feel it all and I hope that I have truly learned, this time, that I need to take better care with friends and not let my stubbornness and petty disagreements stand in the way of long-time relationships. Six or seven years ago our paths diverged after 6 decades of laughter, fun, family births and deaths, shared wins and hard losses. It seemed like he had always been a part of my life, from the first time I remember him, showing up on my doorstep with a Del's pizza to share with the family when I was 6 years old. I heard many years later that he had come bearing that pizza only because he had a crush on my sister and not because he wanted to be nice to me! I was there for his wedding to Michele and watched Bobby, Andy and Becky grow into fine adults. And he was there for mine as well. Always there it seemed, like the photo below taken on my 50th birthday. And through all these times, 60 years...."we laughed and we laughed and we laughed", as he would often say. Long term friends have a way of connecting the dots of our past that you just can't replace once that friend is gone.
So today I had a good cry as I remembered all this and I once again get to face the finality of death. Too late to go back and say "maybe I'm not the only one that is RIGHT here. Maybe you're right too, Bob. And maybe we're both wrong".
Well, if you can hear me, hear this: I will miss you, old friend! I pray that you're at peace. And I apologize for not reaching out to you over the last few years. My bad! Rest well Beeb, BB, McBeeb, Big Bob, Bad Bob, and all the other name iterations we had so much fun with! I know we had our differences of opinion and I'm sorry, but I still say that Sugar Ray was twice the fighter of your Hit Man Hearns!
My heart goes out to you, his family, for your loss. Sincere condolences to you Bobby, Andy, Becky, Michele, John and entire family.
