I miss you, Rich
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My friend Rich Howell passed away a few hours ago.
I miss him already.
Rich (in the middle) and his partner Dave (right) called Tinton Falls, New Jersey home. Rich had been battling cancer for quite awhile. I spoke with him on the phone just a week ago. He sounded upbeat, despite the doctors having told him he had 4 to 6 weeks to live.
With Rich's condition deteriorating fast, Dave said he wouldn't make it that long... and he was right. Dave called and let me know that Rich passed away peacefully in his sleep tonight.
Rich and Dave are very special to me. I met them back when I lived in Connecticut; they are both roller-coaster lovers, but especially Rich. (Few people are more hard-core coaster freaks than I am, but Rich was definitely one of them.)
We'd meet-up at theme parks, or visit each other in Jersey or Connecticut. Or meet in New York City. They came to visit San Diego a couple of years ago, and met some of my local friends. (Needless to say, we hit Six Flags Magic Mountain with a vengeance...)
Sometimes while at work, I'd get a random TXT from Rich, just to say hello. Often he'd TXT me while he was in line for a roller coaster... he'd tell me how the ride was, how the lines were, how the weather was.
When I went with Dave & Rich to visit the Six Flags park in Jersey, Rich bought us the front-of-line passes to make sure we could ride as many coasters as possible, in the short amount of time we had.
Rich loved quoting from Joe Rogan's standup comedy... my favorite was when he'd say in his heavy Jersey accent... "dude... you got a great ass!" He could always make me smile, and we bonded by geeking-out about coasters and parks. He was a sweet man.
The three of us flew to the Cedar Point amusement park in the summer of '04 and spent some time together, while basking in the glory of a beautiful park with some amazing coasters...Top Thrill Dragster, Millennium Force, and like 13 other coasters. (Later, Dave and I did a tandem-jump on that swing-cable contraption they call Ripcord. There are a dozen pictures from that trip below, plus three pics from New York City circa 2006. Or refer to Flickr.)
At this point I'm sure I should be saying something much more eloquent, but this is all my fingers can hash-out at the moment:
I miss you Rich.