by Samantha Killgore
What a cruel trick: my heart—even for a fleeting moment—allowed me to believe that if I showed up at your memorial, you would be there, in the flesh, welcoming me with the embrace of an enormous and lasting bear hug.
My brain was quick to pluck that erroneous pulse right out of my heart. In its place rushed the sadness that somehow, I now had to figure out how to say goodbye.
But, the best thing happened yesterday. I arrived at your Boulder memorial, and there you were. Not in the flesh as my heart had hoped, but in the Italian wine, the hugs, the smiles, the laugh lines, the twinkling eyes, the nicknames, the stories, the jokes and the reverberating laughter of YOUR community. You were there, Rob. You were there in everyone. And oh, how wonderful it was to see you and HUG you!
And now, after all these weeks, I get it... I don't need to say goodbye. I just need to look to the people you touched along your beautiful life, and there you are.
LONG LIVE ROB!— with Rob Coppolillo in Boulder, CO.
