50 Days 'Til 50 Day 30--In Memoriam

50 Days 'Til 50Day 30In MemoriamIn lieu of my post today I wanted to stop for a second, along with the rest of the world to pay a small tribute and say farewell to Robin Williams.I didn’t personally know him, but when it comes to celebrity, we spend so much time watching these actors in their iconic roles over the years, it’s almost feels like we do. Big screen, small screen, stage, I think he did it all. To watch his comedic rants left me dizzy at times marveling at his manic comedic genius. I was talking to a girlfriend of mine earlier this evening and through teary eyes she said to me, “It’s so sad that someone whom we all assume has everything in the world they would ever want or need would reach a point where this was their only option.” I thought about it on my drive home from work and she was right, partially.Addiction is an insidious disease. It’s the only disease I know of that tells you that you don’t have a disease. It’s cunning, baffling, powerful and sits and waits. It doesn’t always wait to show its ugly head when things are at rock bottom either. It can appear anytime, anywhere, just because. It’s a life long battle and if we are vigilant about our recovery the best we can hope for is a daily reprieve from our addiction. Help is available to those who want it. Add to addiction a mental illness, in this case depression, and it can be a frightening, isolative battle. I can only hope and pray if anyone is suffering in silence that they will have the courage to talk to someone about it, anyone. The phone number to the national suicide hotline is 800-273-8255. They can provide additional help or phone numbers to local resources in your area and real people you can talk to. You are not alone. No one ever really knows what’s going on in our minds, so many times just having the courage to tell one person can get it out of your head and into action. That one person you tell just maybe able to help or know someone that can.My heart is heavy for his family and for all those who knew the real Robin and my prayers and thoughts go out to all of them. Thank you for all your service Mr. Williams. Thank you for making us laugh, for making us cry, and for making us feel. Heaven has one more very special angel now.jf