Heavy Heart and a Head Full of Thoughts

Last Wednesday my Uncle Rob passed away. It's impossible to begin to talk about what he meant to my family and others, but here's where I'm going to try to commit parts of this to memory to reflect on down the road. The closest anyone's come to explaining it was my cousin Eric, who simply stated after explaining he wasn't going to try to commit his love and admiration to words: "He was as cool as they come and always there when you needed him." I've always loved that because it's so simple, true, and lovely. Uncle Rob suffered from pain from his sciatic nerve in his back that would've been unbearable to most. Rob frowned away from painkillers except for when he needed sleep, which I doubt came to him very often. It never seemed to have any effect on his mood or amazing outlook on life. He continued to be the life of the party and funniest guy in the room wherever he went. He was the person you always wanted to come to anything you had going on. Something as simple as playing a board game, or cards, was made special with Uncle Rob there. It's impossible to gauge the impact and how much he'll be missed during all of our family outings. I also would wager that about 5 people would say they lost their best friend. My sister and I were seriously wondering if all of his brother's (4, including my Dad) would have secretly listed Rob as their favorite brother. His love of sports was at various times of his life hampered by his physical ailments, including a couple of heart valve replacements, and eventually a pacemaker. His playing days ended, but his love of the Brewers, Packers, Bucks, and all things WI sports was incredible. I had the pleasure of sitting around going through some of my dad's old sports cards and just hearing some of his stories of the old Brewers, Braves, and Bucks was a real joy I'll never forget. I know there are so many stories and experiences I'm missing out on, but I keep trying to focus on how lucky we were to have Rob for as long as we did and how the myriad of physical ailments are now gone for him. It was so strange to see him without a smile on his face for the last time I'll ever see him because that was the standard. He never complained or even mentioned how much pain he was in. I had to have it explained to me when I was in my 20's because you would have never known. It makes me want to try to live more like that. Joyful despite any hinderance going on, physical or other. There was so much to be learned by the example that was Uncle Rob. Selflessness, humbleness, humor, living life to the fullest, and just being the best you could be on a daily basis. I asked my Dad who would be giving the eulogy and I'm not certain anyone thought they could get through it without crying. They thought about opening it up to tell stories, but I'm certain that could have lasted for a few days. Just someone very special to a lot of people in many different ways. Robert Andrew Boll: "As cool as they come, and always there when you needed him."