Bobby Bellarosa

[BklynMario]

I wanted to express some additional thoughts to them:

Dear JEN and BOBBY...I don't think that I need to tell you how badly I feel for the loss of your father. And yet, I know that your grief far surpasses anything that I'm experiencing. I will miss hearing his rapid fire, genuinely Brooklyn responses to my questions. My mind is still running confusedly around with his voice, images, gestures, and everything else that was your father.

As much as I, like everyone else, would love to go back in time to change those things that might have resulted in mistakes and neglect, I would never want the time that I spent with Bobby to be any different than it was - except for the time when he left me in the car to suffer the cold, Rochester-winter like night, while he was otherwise occupied. That was close to fifty-nine years ago. I'd be willing to freeze again, if I could.

Einstein said of Gandhi, "Generations to come, it may be, will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth."

This was true of your father, as well. We'll never again see anything like the generational factors that made your father who he was. There will never be a time or place that will help "create" anyone like him. As I said in my story, he was "Rocky," James Cagney, and Humphrey Bogart, all in one; a deceptively short entity in stature, he embodied every Runyon-esque, "never give up," genuinely "tough guy with a heart" spirit.

I will miss him terribly. And, in spite of the risk of my thoughts being perceived as maudlin, or outright corny, I think that God must have really wanted him. It could be that he'll now have the time to rest and take a break from the paper, ink, uniforms, bugles, drums, parades, competitions, and all the countless, unknowable fragmented minutiae that was his life.

On the other hand, knowing Bobby, he'll probably tell God that he thinks it would be a great idea to publish a magazine for all the drum corps guys and girls who are there with him. Maybe just to welcome the new arrivals, and keep them updated on the latest scores, and a few photos, along with a tiny bit of gossip. In fact, I believe that's exactly what he would do.

The comment and question, that Winston Churchill once composed is, "I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the ordeal of meeting me, is another matter." God help God!

mario