Today, during a lull in work, while attempting to solve a puzzle which has nothing to do with life at all, I received a horrible message, which at first I thought must have been an attempt at sarcastic humor, but was instead a very brutal kick in the side from reality.
And as I lost track of my thoughts, and tried to curb my tears in public, I pretended to search for the answers to clues in the newspaper instead of the ones in life that can never be answered. Why him? Why now? How is this fair? Or, what is the five letter word for “bluish-greens?”
I still vaguely feel the blow to my left kidney I received when I fell down in the river two weeks ago. But bruises heal. We get up, and move on and pretend that it doesn’t hurt quite as much as our insides truly tell us.
I’ll travel back up the river and attemp the journey again. We won’t always make it to the end of our adventure at the same time, but for parts of it, we’ll drift downstream over calm and turbulent waters the same, together. And that, in the end, are the parts worth remembering.
Rest In Peace, Rich. You taught me much more about life than you could have ever taught me about how to brew beer.
On The Verge of Tears 