The Belanger Family,
I had the great opportunity to work with Rob over the past nine years. I remember the first time we met, having lunch in Fells Point to "interview" each other.. sitting outside on a beautiful day and talking about work related subjects. I recall the easy going nature of Rob that afternoon and remember thinking that we would get along quite well.. In life, I think we are always trying to understand what we can do better by learning from our experiences. If I could go back in time and have the lunch over again, I think I would want to talk with Rob about anything other than work. While our nine years together provided an incredible amount of time interacting, strategizing, solving issues and conversing, much less was spent on "life" discussions for the first few years. I am always suggesting to my children to try to live life so that you won't have any regrets.. in this case I regret not discovering the "non work side" of Rob in the early years. It wasn't until several years ago that we began to discover what makes each of us tick. I recall in April 2014 and my mother had just died from Alzheimer's, I asked Rob if he would consider playing a couple of songs at my mothers' service. Without hesitation he agreed to do so even though I hadn't given him much time to prepare and as it was a weekend, he needed to work around softball coaching..actually, he didn't just agree to do so, he loved the idea and wanted to do something in her honor. Our family was incredibly touched that he was so eagerly willing..And oh how beautiful his playing and singing was.. More recently, as Melissa and I were planning our wedding in November for this New Year's Day, we both thought how wonderful it would be to have Rob play and sing a couple of songs at our ceremony.. we struggled a bit with whether we should ask him or not because he was not at full strength. We decided to go ahead and the response from Rob was an enthusiastic and incredibly warm "of course and I would be honored".. we were tickled pink and we felt like the honored ones. We agreed to the songs and we talked back and forth about some of the details. We lost Rob two days before our wedding but he will forever be a part of our ceremony and a part of our hearts..
I feel so honored to have been able to spend so much time the past nine years with Rob. Being able to work with him afforded me an incredible amount of time to be around him. I am in awe of the legacy he leaves and the number of people he has impacted. It is now my time to learn from who he was and what he accomplished, and take that with me as I go on in my life. Thank you Rob for our time together and our memories. I miss you and will think of you often. I know Addy and Carsyn will follow in your footsteps as you and Natasha have set such a wonderful example of how to live life and do it with impact and meaning..
Melissa and I are here for you all.
Jon Price
