Tonight Madison and Daddy were in the living room when we heard Mommy gasp. She had just read the news that Robin Williams had passed. Madison, of course, doesn't quite have the grasp of significance of this event yet. But this is the date it happened - although it will be hard to forget. It will an easy answer to that usual question, "Where were you when?"
We will always know, just like all the tragedies before. We didn't know the man personally, of course, so why was this so devastating?
He was the voice of the Genie, the young boy trapped in Jumanji, and the grown-up Peter Pan. He was Teddy Roosevelt, an old dog, and an alien that traveled in a egg spaceship. He was a friend on screen, a crazy uncle that we never had, the kind that cracked jokes and made you laugh until it hurts.
It hurts now, of course. Not just because he is gone though, but in the way it happened. Two words we keep repeating are "if only." Other celebrities have passed - we were listing some of the ones that have passed away over the last twenty years, and most of the ones that affected us or inspired us had lived a long time, and were approaching a place where it was time to say goodbye. But this one was too soon, and Mommy and Daddy are heartbroken tonight. From our glances at social media, so is a good part of the world.
He was just an actor, of course. So again, why is this so devastating? I guess the answer is that he was more than just an actor. Watching "Hook," "Jumanji," or "Aladdin," we invited the man into our homes and into our lives - just like so many others. And in doing so, he became a part of the family. One that we'll miss dearly.
"O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life? Answer. That you are here - that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?"
We will always know, just like all the tragedies before. We didn't know the man personally, of course, so why was this so devastating?
He was the voice of the Genie, the young boy trapped in Jumanji, and the grown-up Peter Pan. He was Teddy Roosevelt, an old dog, and an alien that traveled in a egg spaceship. He was a friend on screen, a crazy uncle that we never had, the kind that cracked jokes and made you laugh until it hurts.
It hurts now, of course. Not just because he is gone though, but in the way it happened. Two words we keep repeating are "if only." Other celebrities have passed - we were listing some of the ones that have passed away over the last twenty years, and most of the ones that affected us or inspired us had lived a long time, and were approaching a place where it was time to say goodbye. But this one was too soon, and Mommy and Daddy are heartbroken tonight. From our glances at social media, so is a good part of the world.
He was just an actor, of course. So again, why is this so devastating? I guess the answer is that he was more than just an actor. Watching "Hook," "Jumanji," or "Aladdin," we invited the man into our homes and into our lives - just like so many others. And in doing so, he became a part of the family. One that we'll miss dearly.
"O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life? Answer. That you are here - that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?"
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