The Tears Of A Clown

I was off from work today. I went to Memorial Park. I bought a birthday present. I napped. I heard the news. I was in the kitchen and had the telly turned on to KPRC-Channel 2 news.

The cadence of the news skipped a beat and I went into the living room to find out what was going on. Dominique Sachse was delivering breaking news. Robin Williams had died at the age of 63. It totally caught me by surprise.

Yesterday when I was in San Antonio, I was gathering things in preparation of leaving Hotel Havana. CBS Sunday Morning was on and they were doing a story about Pierce Brosnan. They showed a clip of him with Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire.  I forgot that Pierce was in the movie and I hadn't really thought of the movie in awhile.

Initial reports are stating that Robin committed suicide.  He had been suffering from depression; I wasn't aware of that.  It just goes to prove that you never what battles someone is fighting.

I had a chance encounter with Robin back in the late '90s.  I had been on a business trip to the Bay Area of California.  The meeting ended on Friday and as was my custom, I extended my stay to Sunday.  Jamie came out to join me.

While waiting for Jamie at SFO, I looked in the phone book for a long lost colleague who was living somewhere in the area.  I called the number, she answered and we made plans to meet up on Saturday.

Mary & David were great hosts for the day, especially on the spur of the moment notice.  We traveled around the city and at one point we went to a park (the name I can't remember).  As we were walking, a man dressed from head-to-toe in a black running outfit came running toward us.  There was something familiar about him and as he passed, it was either Mary or David who said, "That was Robin Williams."  We stopped and turned around and he must of heard the comment because he stopped and turned around and waved and smiled.  He went on his way and we went on ours but I'll never forget that moment in time.

I didn't always get Robin's humor but I did love the roles he played in some of his movies.  RIP Robin and may you find peace in the afterlife.