Hello Ritz? Death here

Friday's always bring me great joy. I bounce into work proclaiming it to be "Fun Friday" no matter what kind of day I know I'll have. It's all in the attitude. This past Friday was going to be better than any I've had in the past 6 months. Why was this day so special? David got called back to work. YEA!! We can now start climbing out of near financial ruin. The best news? My boob test is NORMAL! Hell yea. I was doing the happy dance and riding the happy train.

Then it happened....my"Fun Friday" turned into "Fuck Friday".

It all started with an incident at work, towards the end of the day and then I got a phone call from my aunt. The phone call changed everything. My emotions, attitude, priorities, my view on family and life. It's strange how one phone call can do that. At that moment the situation at work was trivial.

Roberto, my dad's best friend died. He had gone to walk the dog. His wife found him sitting in his chair with his coat still on. She thought he had fallen back asleep. He wasn't breathing and there was no pulse. By the time the paramedics came there was nothing they could do. He was 79. The same age my dad would have been today. I just saw him last Monday when he had stopped by my office to say hello. He would do that when he was in the neighborhood. He would come in say hello and then go to my aunt's house to reminisce and talk politics. He was 79 but looked like he was 60. A good looking 60. The type of man that made younger women's head turn. Charming? Very. I remember bartending some Christmas parties at the hotel he worked at when I was younger. He was the bar manager then and women would line up on his side to order drinks. We made a game out of seeing who had the most tips at the end of the night. Though I raked in some serious cash, he always won. He was 59 then.

My dad and his sisters were friends with Roberto before I was even born. He is in all the pictures of any of our family occasions. My favorite picture is of my dad and him at a picnic when I was 6. Something about that picture says so much about their friendship to me.

My emotions are more than just about his passing. It's about my dad, my two aunt's who are in their 70's also, and my own mortality. I left work and went to my aunt's house. There they were with Roberto's other best buddy, Ray. I walked in to find Ray crying. I've only seen him cry one

other time in my 49 years. That was when my dad died.

I miss you both.

Dad

Roberto