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Remarks by Jon Rohrbach at Dave's Memorial


My son Dave died one year ago. These are remarks his brother Jon shared at his memorial. They are entirely appropriate.

Please check out Dave's page. Let me know if you have any Moose stories

Hello,

I'm Moose's brother, Jon. I'm the youngest one. I'm also the sibling that gets to speak last, so there's no one after me to rebut that I'm also the cutest, funniest, most clever one... and the modest one.

If you knew Moose, you probably heard him say tha tabout himself a few times, in jest. Because he loved to make people laugh. He love to be the one that helped everyone have fun, and he was usually very good at it. Especially with kids. He used to love to make kids laugh. My kids, Mark's kids, Becky's daughter, even random kids on the street. My kids remember him for being a really fun uncle.

And, if you knew Moose, you also know that he could be infuriating and hard to get along with at times. Like the fisherman who stubbornly fished on the same side of the boat all night, so was Moose with arguments, and with personal relationships. Including family relationships. Each member of the family, at some time, has had a strained relationship with Moose. However, I'm pleased to say that at the time of his death, all of the relationships Moose had with his family were positive, healthy, and friendly. I learned from that. I learned that we got lucky. It was due to luck, or God, alone that Moose's sudden passing happened when we were all getting along.

I am a firm believer that we should never let a tragedy go to waste. There is something to learn, or something we can do following a tragedy, that will make our lives better. In this case, I think, it's to manage our relationships better. So, I'd like to share something from a conversation that I had with Moose a few ago. He was going through a difficult time, a break up with a girlfriend. And we sat down over a beer and talked. We realized this...

Your life is completely defined by two transitions. God is at both sides of those transitions, but you make the transitions yourself, and you really don't have any control over them. That is, you come into this world suddenly, and alone. You will leave this world suddenly, and alone. But in between, is all of us. And you get to choose what you do with that.

It's actually pretty simple, as I see it, there are really only two options. You can do things that make your live better, or, you can do something else. And if you aren't trying to make things better, you're picking the other option. Now, I conceed that the complexity, the hard part, is in the details. But God, and the desire to make things better, will guide you through those details.

So, let's let Moose's untimely passing serve as proof, a reminder, that we may not get a chance to make things better, later. Let's use Moose's passing as inspiration to perform Christianity's greatest challenge – forgivenss. Reach out to those you may with you had a better relationship with. And be ready to forgive if you are reached out to. Take control of managing your relationships, with an intentional bias towards making life better.

Moose was my brother, and I loved him. He was the best man at my wedding he was there when I needed him – he was always ready to help. And he was my friend. And I miss him.


 
 
 

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