Goodbye Rob Appell, I will miss you.

As we're all PAINFULLY aware now, we lost Rob Appell.  Last night I read some amazing tributes to him, and i'm sure over the course of the next few days i'll be reading many more.  I'm really glad about it too, because that man deserves every single one of them!

Rob was one of the first people I got to know here at gather.  Reading the other posts about him I see he did that with a lot of people.  I think it's wonderful to hear how he reached out to so many of us.  He helped me get used to the site, how to post, things like that.  What he also did though was keep me from quitting here totally when things would get rough.  He'd PM me and tell me not to let the jerks win.  When I was in pan he'd write.  When I was happy he'd write.  He always seemed to know exactly what I needed to hear, even if it may not have been what I WANTED to hear! That was something I appreciate about him, his honesty.

I remember one message from him thanking me for a post i'd done that caused me a lot of grief.  I'd written about gay marriage and how I thought it should be legal.  I was attacked, called names, all that fun stuff.  Not only did he thank me for the support, but he also stood up for me to the bullies.  I remember the good laugh we had when he said he'd date me in a second if he was into women.  Whether he meant it or not it was nice to hear, and nice of him to say. He is the one who told me not to worry about the ratings here.  I knew that but I would still take it personally.  He helped me see that they really don't matter in the scheme of things.  As long as I liked my work and was proud of it then that was all that mattered!  He was so right.

I loved how he cared about his friends, ESPECIALLY Scott.  I remember him writing about how excited he was when Scott came over after he hadn't seen him in awhile.  He said he pretty much flew down the stairs, and joked how hard that was with only one leg.  I loved the funny articles he'd write about that!  When he learned I was legally blind that drew us together too.  He was supportive of me.  I hope he felt the same in return.

I will miss him so much.  I already do.  Gather won't be the same without him.  I hope he has finally found the peace he deserves.

Being that there is no funeral, plus we're all spread out, I was considering having an on-air one for him on my internet radio show.  If anyone is interested please let me know.