Love your neighbors

I met Rob when I moved to Jacksonville. One night he was returning from the Ritz and we met in the parking lot of our apartment complex. He asked if we wanted to drink a few beers before calling it a night and my sister and I agreed. Shortly there after he was screaming country music into a highlighter. That was my first impression of Rob.

We became great friends very quickly, he sooned introduced us to Bill, Rick and Todd. What incredible men, we knew we struck gold. If we ever needed anything one of these men were always there for us, whether it was a ride home from the bars at 2 or a quick trip to Super Wal-Mart in the middle of the night or if it was just someone to enjoy dinner with. I didn't know then what an impact Roberta would have on me. Thanks for the ride in the rain to Wally World on the bike at 3:30am.

Over the past three years Rob and I have had our ups and downs, which I am grateful for. The ups are what I will remember and if it wasn't for the downs the ups would not be so awesome. We were almost like siblings, we would fight because we couldn't find time to hang out, or something would come up so we would have to break our plans. Now I understand the huge network I was a small part of. Thank you Rob for making time for me.

I remember when he was out to sea he would always send me emails to let me know how he was doing and ask how my life was. I thought how selfless, he was at work ( doing what he loved but doing a job that not many men can do) and still found time to keep in touch and make sure I was doing ok. He was always thinking about everyone else before he thought about himself. Thanks for thinking of me Rob.

Now he is gone. At first I didn't know what to think, was it a joke, it couldn't be for real. He is so young, and newly engaged and doing what he loved. What was going on?? It was true, then I started thinking about what was going through his head in the last seconds, was he flying, could he still be ok? I know I am extremely selfish but I wasn't ready to let go of Rob. I will never be able to hug him or be surprised by him at the Ritz or eat a burrito with him at Moe's. I wish I could just have one more hour with him. But now it is God's turn, and I am no match. I am sure he is enjoying himself up above. God works in mysterious ways. Thank you God for letting me spend quality time with one of your angels.

One last thing to think about. As I said before Rob was our neighbor, and right after we all moved from St Johns Estates, my sister moved to Tallahassee. That was almost two years ago, and she had not seen him since. On Sept. 16 she came into town for the first time in months and I had invited some old friends over to hang out so she could see everyone. I invited Rob and Bill but didn't tell her because I wanted to surprise her. All night she was asking about her surprise, finally when they showed up she knew that they were the surprise. We talked about old times. It was amazing, my sister hadn't seen him in almost two years. That was 8 days before the crash. GOD WORKS IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS! My sister told me she will never be able to thank me for giving her the opportunity to see him, I told her I wasn't my plan it was God's.

I will forever miss you Roberta and keep you in my heart. Thank you for everything you have done for me and America. Rest in peace.