Hi all. We wanted to take the time to thank everyone who has reached out over the last month to offer condolences, stories, food delivery, a listening ear, a hug, prayers, healing vibes, and other forms of connection. It has meant so much to our family as we navigate these choppy seas without our fearless captain. The grief has been difficult, but we feel buoyed by your support. And on the note of sea-faring metaphors, I’ve been thinking a lot about this poem:

Gone From My Sight - Rev. Luther F. Beecher

I am standing upon the seashore. A ship, at my side,
spreads her white sails to the moving breeze and starts
for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength.
I stand and watch her until, at length, she hangs like a speck
of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.

Then, someone at my side says, "There, she is gone."

Gone where?

Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast,
hull and spar as she was when she left my side.
And, she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port.

Her diminished size is in me -- not in her.

And, just at the moment when someone says, "There, she is gone,"
there are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices
ready to take up the glad shout, "Here she comes!"

So that’s where it feels like our family is now: standing at the shore, looking towards the horizon, and missing Rob.

- The Neil Family