We're Going To Miss You, Bob Lucid

My beloved sister called me in tears last night to tell me that Bob Lucid had died.

That little tiny picture is the only picture of him I could find, and I wish now, of course, that I had taken the time to get a good picture of him at Steve's awesome party this summer.

Bob Lucid was a guiding light in my sister's life, and my knowledge of him comes through her, so I am one step removed from the sadness.

Which makes most of you two steps removed.

So rather than talk about Bob himself, this guy I didn't know very well and who you maybe didn't know at all, I wanted to talk just for a minute about the Bob-sized hole he left behind.

Bob Lucid was the kind of person who believed in others. If you had a dream that seemed a little crazy to you, Bob would treat it as something that you were likely to be able to achieve. And somehow, buoyed by his enthusiasm, you would find yourself thinking that maybe your dream wasn't so crazy after all.

Bob Lucid was an elder with a long memory. If you were lucky enough to have been his friend for many years, he would keep parts of your history alive, telling stories from your life and his, binding them together.

And he believed in the power of language to connect people.

So that's part of what my sister is missing tonight. And it's not even the half of it. We're going to miss you, Bob Lucid.

Bob+Lucid