Cody Hotrod
Robert and I shared a couple classes in high school and he definitely made the days easier. He was intelligent, kind, charismatic, and relentlessly funny. He was so unbelievably quick with the jokes, it made me feel like I was thinking in slow motion. He could make the most boring lecture so incredibly funny with his one-liners, our teachers had to tell us to keep the laughter down. In my brief time of knowing Robert, I can say with confidence that he made a huge impact on everyone who had the pleasure of knowing him.
Before the tragedy of his passing, I noticed on his social media, some of his posts that seemed to be completely out of character for Robert. Contrary to his bright, cheery personality, his dark, almost cryptic posts read to me as a cry for help. It compelled me to reach out and ask how he was doing. He replied with a purple heart emoji only. I should have pressed on, and hindsight is 20/20 but I can't help but feel guilty. I should have done more. I'm sorry Robert. I let you down man.