This post is a departure from my usual wine-related content, and I hope you’ll bear with me. As you know, yesterday the world lost one of its most brilliant comedic minds.
Robin Williams first beamed into my family’s living room on the “Mork and Mindy” show. At the time, I was an awkward sixth grader, trying to establish a sense of identity in the not-always-kind world of middle school. For my brother and me, the Mork character was the embodiment of our own quirky sense of humor, a fellow geek trying to find where he fit in his surroundings.
As I grew, so did Williams’ influence. His portrayal of John Irving’s character, Garp, brought a high school reading assignment, “The World According to Garp,” to life. In college, his role in “Good Morning Vietnam” shed a little light on the war that, for decades, was brushed under the rug. As a writer and literature major, “Dead Poet’s Society” struck a chord. In my early thirties, seemingly stuck on the dating merry-go-round, Williams seemed to be speaking to me, as well as Matt Damon, on how to find that ever-elusive love in “Good Will Hunting.”
I leave you with a quote that I hope touches your heart as much as it does mine. A toast to the man who could make me laugh, even in the darkest times.
“You’re only given one little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it.”
– Robin Williams (1951-2014)
