Normally on our return trip from our winter travels, we stop to visit Rob’s 94 year old Dad in Albany, NY, but because of my medical situation and upcoming appointments, we were on a fast track back to RI and decided we would just make a separate trip by car at a later date, which we did.

Rob’s brother, Jeff, from Chicago would be in Albany the 1st week in May presenting a good opportunity to visit, so we drove out to see not only his Dad but also visit with Jeff and his other brother, Dave, and his family who live in Albany.

It’s a good thing we went when we did, because Bob hadn’t been doing well due to a fall in early April that  broke his ankle. At the time of our visit, he was still in rehab where he had reluctantly been since then. While he was coherent and mostly himself during phone conversations up to around mid-April, we were shocked at how rapidly he had deteriorated, both physically and mentally.

Back in April, Bob had called Rob on one occasion and told him he was “getting ready to go”. True to his word, he died peacefully on May 6th just 5 days after our last visit with him. His wish was not to be waked, and to only have a small funeral with military honors and family and friends. He wanted to be buried back in RI, accompanied by Rob’s mom (cremated) and a cremated pet, Shayna. We were tasked with making the arrangements for the celebration of life reception in East Greenwich after the service.

After visiting a number of venues, we arranged for a reception to be held at the East Greenwich Yacht Club (Rob’s parents were member there for years, as are we to this day) on May 12th.  Everything was perfect – decent weather, beautiful setting and delicious food, thanks to a new chef who once owned Spirito’s, a well regarded restaurant in Providence. Now he provides food service at the club on weekends. Bob would have been very pleased.

In between that and all my medical appointments, Quantum Leap had to be readied for launch which was scheduled for May 9th. This was the first year that Rob decided to hire a local service to wax the boat and paint the bottom. Things were just too hectic!

After the boat was launched, things returned to a semblance of normal. But only for a short while…