Shout out the my brothers at ROTHARMY
Been a while since I've posted.
I've made it a habit to not post much personal stuff on this site. It's just the way I (and many of our posters) have done things.
With the death of MAX, it was made clear to many of us how personal events can rock our worlds, even in this crazy "computer game" of a music forum.
Last year, life was shaken up for my wife and me almost to the point of not being able to recover. In January 2013, we suffered the death of our firstborn son. He was nine months old, healthy and he died unexpectedly. It almost killed us. My buddies BOB, MATT, SHARK and POJO were well aware of what happened and have been great about offering support during this horrible time. The pain was so deep, I was convinced for a while that my wife and I would not be able to come back and find any joy in life. I chose not to post this because it's the kind of thing that just doesn't seem to have a place at this amazing community.
But I wanted to post it now because my wife and I are truly blessed and happy these past two days. We just successfully brought into this world a baby girl. She is truly a gift...a miracle. She's taught us that you can survive the greatest injustice and find a new happiness, making peace with the existence of pain that will never truly be alleviated.
Our daughter will also be (when she grows older) a gigantic VH/Roth fan. I played her DROP DEAD LEGS the other day...though her only initial reaction was to squeak once or twice, demand a pacifier and demand a boob to feed from. I'll give her time to appropriately bask in the brilliance of VH...but I guess she has to learn how to sit through a diaper change without crying first.
I know many of you have children...and all those who do (and even those who do not) can only picture what this kind of pain can do to someone. We all have to remember that past the music-talk, recipe-trading, flame-wars and opinions, there are people with real lives, real trials, tribulations and personal triumphs that we can't always recognize beyond the usernames, avatars and passionate musical discussions.
For a while, though I posted a few times, I thought I'd never really appear here again. I want to offer a shout-out to those who have been there to offer support beyond this site. It is necessary and should be recognized by all posters here how many amazing human beings sit behind these avatars.
This is a wonderful forum. Surviving the most soul-crushing pain one can imagine and then coming back from it with a reason for living makes me want to enjoy more of the things that used to give me quite a kick. Posting here is one of those things.
So, opening my soul up a bit here with this thread is my way of saying, "Hello, old friend Rotharmy. Good to see you."
Everyone who posts here, thanks for reading my little 12-step monologue. Hold your loved ones close and never take life for granted. Sometimes, it can throw you curveballs you think will kill you. But try and remember that you can survive anything if you try.
By the way, I'm excited as shit at the prospect of new VH w/ Roth next year.
And everything I post here will always be laced with the good memory of my fallen comrade Jer (MAX) for all time.
Thanks for listening, Rotharmy. Lemme just say, having a daughter is pretty fucking awesome. (I'm already picking out shotguns, however, for when she's older and starts thinking about boys...)
Rikk (an old Army veteran and PEN-keeper)
