This morning as we were planning our Christmas dinner (which we knew would be way too much for two), I stopped and called our buddy, Bob Taylor, to see if he would like to join us. There was no answer so I left the message on his machine.

When I hadn’t heard from Bob by noon, I called him again. His son-in-law answered the phone and asked how well I knew him. (I thought it was a little strange but figured he was screening Bob’s calls.) I explained that John and I think of Bob as our best Florida friend.

It was then that he told us the sad news. Bob died. It must have happened suddenly Tuesday night as he was heading to the bathroom. He wasn’t found until today (Thursday – Christmas Day). When he didn’t answer the phone for a couple of days his daughter (Laurie) became concerned. Apparently it was sudden with no suffering.

Ahhhh but we’ll miss Bob. He was a sweetheart. He loved to entertain us and often had us over for dinner, or we’d reciprocate and he’d come to our place. He threw himself a fantastic 76th birthday party in March 2007. We always saved him a spot near us at Rockin’ Rondezvous. He was always respectful and generous with his lady friends.

He called us about a week before we got to Florida. He wanted to know if we were “home” yet. We explained that we were in Michigan. He said he was lonesome and hoped we’d hurry down. We assured him we’d arrive by Saturday, the 20th.

As promised, we called him. Early Sunday he joined us at the pool. We sat and talked about everything from investments to our up-coming plans. He wanted me to go help him pick out some living room furniture after Christmas.

He phoned us Monday to tell us he had some information he’d rounded up for us about investments. We could pick it up if we were in his neighborhood. Sadly we didn’t get over there.

Tuesday we were at Busch Gardens. He was in our thoughts there. We talked about bringing him with us next time. We knew he couldn’t walk around the huge park, but we could rent an electric cart for him.

We both loved him like family. It was a genuine, mutual affection.

It won’t be the same without Bob. He was the first house guest to visit our new condo. Our first dinner guest. Our best friend.

Here are some of the many photos I took of Bob since we met him in 2006. (And no, he hadn’t grown a black mustache. That was his Halloween look. He was Charlie Chaplin.)