Sunday, July 30, 2023
Bob took me in when i was a homeless mentally ill young man who’d just lost his mother and best friend. I know the The truth about the man because i spent several years day in day out under the same roof, scraping by. There were unfortunate elements in his life. But that never conquered Bob. The darknesses in life never took away who he was. I can speak for my own experience. I watched him massively inconvenience himself to bend over backwards to accommodate many people in life, who then turned around and burnt his back. He never let me go without. anything. He was kind to animals and treated people with a default respect that wasn't always afforded him. The fact is, one absolutely freezing January night, he saved my life. I was laying there rapidly bleeding out from two massive self inflicted butcher knife wounds. He just happened to forget his wallet when he left, and he came back a bit later. He used some floral patterned quilt-work or something of his mothers that he tore into strips of fabric and bound my wounds, then he dragged me by the feet on my back, on the inch thick layer of frozen ice rain on the sidewalks to the Hospital. Doctor told me whoever bound me up saved my life. I can do absolutely spot on impressions of him-of everyone who lived in that house from 2001 to 2004. 25 Montague Street was the closest i had to a home since before. I can almost smell the incense, see the brown beaten furniture, the vibe of the sunken feeling living room, the wide preponderance of his mothers knickknacks, candelabras and an indelible feel of the 70’s in the earthen tone wood panelling. We both lost our mothers the same year, same time. i had always heard Bob, in his day, was a great roofer.
I knew him in my time as a great human being. I’ll never forget him.
