I found out this weekend that a man I know – just about my age – suffered a fatal heart attack/car accident. He leaves behind a dear wife, two adult children, and many friends with good memories and aching hearts.
I knew him for years, and valued his steady strength, though in the past five years or so we had very little contact. Some years ago, in a particularly stormy time, we were thrown more closely together and I was glad to have him at the oars with me. Bob Krenitski will be missed.
Death is bittersweet – for those of us parted all too soon from one who lived well, the pain is at least assuaged somewhat by glad memories and the knowledge of many lives impacted for good.
Update: I was blown away by the memorial service. What a legacy Bob has left behind – how many people he has touched! Some people achieve fame and fortune for the most superficial “qualities.” Others quietly go their way helping others without regard for publicity. The wider world won’t report on the life and passing of Bobby K, but his character speaks volumes. Those of us privileged to have known him are richer for the quality of his life.
BookofJoe highlights these 
Stunning. See the entire scene 
Six million American men will be diagnosed with depression this year. But millions more suffer silently, unaware that their problem has a name or unwilling to seek treatment. In a confessional culture in which Americans are increasingly obsessed with their health, it may seem clichéd—men are from Mars, women from Venus, and all that—to say that men tend not to take care of themselves and are reluctant to own up to mental illness. But the facts suggest that, well, men tend not to take care of themselves and are reluctant to own up to mental illness. Although depression is emotionally crippling and has numerous medical implications—some of them deadly—many men fail to recognize the symptoms. Instead of talking about their feelings, men may mask them with alcohol, drug abuse, gambling, anger or by becoming workaholics. And even when they do realize they have a problem, men often view asking for help as an admission of weakness, a betrayal of their male identities.
And quite an impressive sight, is it not? That’s Earth, seen through the rings of Saturn, taken by the Cassini spacecraft.
