Happy Birthday to the Rob of my RobandBecki!

Rob and I have been friends for a long, long time.  Here's how it happened.

We went to a teeny, super-conservative college (which is funny, considering that Rob and I are neither teeny, nor super-conservative).  My freshman year, I attended auditions for "The Music Man", and saw a man sitting in the audience (wearing overalls!!) next to the director.  I thought, "oh, that must be a professor, or perhaps someone from the town."

(This is where Rob likes to insert the fact that he was wearing a shirt with the Greek letters of his campus housing group on it, but he's not writing this blog, is he?  Hm?)

No, he was a senior English major who was the assistant director.  We were acquaintances.  I felt threatened by his silliness and his popularity, he felt threatened by my angst and my perm.

Long story short (too late), over the course of the coming year, we bonded over some major disappointments (and our lack of coping ability).  In the years following his graduation, we kept in touch and even did a show together here and there (ask us about "The Mousetrap" sometime), but we really hit our stride in 1997.  Rob called me to audition for a show he was directing in Pittsburgh.  Two weeks later, my mom passed away.  My network of brand-new friends became my lifeline during the most difficult time I'd ever experienced, and Rob spent countless (seriously, countless) hours talking me through the transition from the person I'd been to the person I'd have to become.  I couldn't be more grateful.

I've come to realize that not only am I half a person without Rob in my life, he's the better half of me as a person.  I'm boring, anti-social, sarcastic, mean, unpleasant, and whiny.  Rob is spontaneous, fun, smart, encouraging, diplomatic, and helpful.  When we're together, he makes me all of the things he is.  I couldn't ever be half the friend to him that he's been to me.

(Also, don't get me wrong.  Rob's pretty mean sometimes.  And whiny.)

Rob, thank you for breaking into my car that time I couldn't get my trunk open.  And for doing it in an Eat'n'Park parking lot on a 20,368 degree July afternoon.

Thank you for carrying all of that stuff to my apartment from my Dad's.  In the rain.

Thanks for knowing when I need to hide, and giving me a place to hide.

Thank you for driving me home from Erie when you knew my stuff wouldn't fit in my car.

Thanks for hosting my birthday party every year.  I know it must be a major pain.

Thanks for being a great director.  I learn so much from working with you.

Thanks for not always casting me.  It's a good lesson in humility, and did you know that I need that sometimes?

Thank you for listening to me talk about EVERY STUPID BOY IN MY LIFE. 

Thanks for being honest when I ask you why I'm single.  Also, thanks for telling me I'm not ugly.

Thanks for helping me pack up my office in a hurry that time I got laid off.  It wasn't easier because you were there, but I can't imagine how hard it would have been if you weren't.

Thank you for always being up for a spontaneous game of Bananagrams.

Thank you for sharing your family, friends, jobs, and life with me.

Thanks for being my best friend.  I love you.

--Becki