Thanks to my good friend Fran I was able to learn a bit from Mr. Williams during his time shooting the movie "Patch Adams" in Chapel Hill. He even came to take one of my spinning classes during his time here.
True story.
I saw him get to the eye level of each and every person he talked to, kneeling for the shorter ones, and remember him taking a young wheelchair bound fan for a "ride" around campus delaying a whole evening worth of movie poster shooting.
From what I can tell, at that time, what you saw on the screen was how he was in real life.
Humble. Grateful. Taking joy in each day.
I learned quite a lot about the right way to interact with folks while he was here, and how to notice the smaller most important things every day.
That is how I will remember him.
Godspeed Robin Williams. Godspeed.
The blood glucose logs, thoughts, and experiences of a type 1 diabetic husband, father, dad of a type 1, speaker, author, & endurance mountain bike competitor.
