You're Only Given One Little Spark

A few fond memories of Robin Williams....so sad to say goodbye to him today.

You're only given one little spark of madness.  You mustn't lose it. -Robin Williams

My memories of Robin Williams go all the way back to the Mork & Mindy Show....I loved the egg spaceship :)  When Brad and I were on our Honeymoon....we didn't upgrade our rental car in Florida (except for one day that we got to drive around in a yellow Mustang convertible)....so the rest of the days we were given this white little egg looking car and I loved that I felt like it was Mork's Spaceship.

In 1990, the movie Awakenings came out and it really inspired me as I was starting to think about my future and what I wanted to be....do.....I began getting really interested in psychology at that time.  It may seem strange to say, but that movie helped me decide to major in psychology and sociology in college.  I wanted to use my creativity to make some kind of breakthrough.  That desire fueled my way through college and my first job as a QMRP working with individuals with different levels of mental retardation and mental health issues.  That was an incredibly rewarding job...never a dull moment and always thinking of ways to try to make a connection with people and help them.

I worked with one lady that rhymed everything she said....so, one day I decided I wanted to try to connect with her.  She and I sat down to play dominos and she started to mumble to herself in her rhymes....I was so excited....so, I started to try to rhyme back to her.....she put her dominos down.....just stared at me and then punched me in the eye....apparently, her fist was the only way she was planning to connect that day :)

WOW...Robin had so many wonderful moments in movies and comedy!  Who can forget the icing face mask from Mrs Doubtfire....or so many hilariously funny and deeply powerful moments in Patch Adams....no one will ever forget how he shouted "Good Morning, Vietnam!"...or the empowering moments of inspiration in Dead Poets Society...."O Captain, My Captain!" (one of my very favorites) and so many more memories.

Obviously he had struggles....but, he worked so hard throughout his life to harness the struggles to his advantage in enormous ways....he will be greatly missed!

His daughter tweeted a quote from The Little Prince...I think it is a beautiful thought for Robin...

"You -- you alone will have the stars as no one else has them...In one of the stars I shall be living.  In one of them I shall be laughing.  And so it will be as if all the stars were laughing, when you look at the sky at night...You - only you - will have stars that can laugh." 

--Antoine de Saint-Exupery