Tonight it is with a very heavy heart that I write this post. I just received word from my hometown that my old neighbor, the young boy I knew while I was growing up, passed away much too soon.
It is moments like these that violently jolt us awake from the slumber brought on by daily monotonous routine.
Tomorrow the sun will still rise, people will still go to work, but the world will not be the same, and never will be again. There is one more whose light has been extinguished and now only exists in memory.
I wanted to write a post to serve as a memorial for Bobby Junior, known to me as simply Bobby J. This is for that little kid who would always be so happy when I found the time to play with him, for the kid who laughed hysterically when I taught him the word “butt-pirate.” It is for a kid who had a tough time in life and never seemed to find firm footing.
Bobby J, it has been almost 20 years since we last met and tonight I wish I would have reached out just once to say hello. I still have your name on AOL IM, that old messaging service that nobody uses anymore, and always wondered why your name continued to be there year after year. I tried to send you the picture below through AOL a few months ago but for some reason it didn’t work. I thought I had plenty of time to try again.
Tonight your mother and brother weigh heavily in my thoughts. This is going to be very hard on them. I know you had a pretty rough adult life and can only hope that you have now found peace.
I hope that when I too leave this world we can sit again on the chimney and I can teach you another silly insult like “butt-pirate,” that your parents will get slightly upset with me for doing. I’ll try to learn some new, equally entertaining insults to share with you before I get there.
I’m thinking of you tonight buddy. I feel a profound sadness that seeps into my very soul. With your death a piece of my own childhood has died as well.
