So it is almost a year and I look at Jacques on his 14th birthday and I think he looks like dad...

That tells you..... The other day I cited one of dad's research papers on 'Effects of wall colour and classroom light changes on mood etc'. I thought how fitting that I can pass on his knowledge. I continue to love him and his presence in my life.

I think of him as I chant - especially the closing chant - in yoga. "Swasti ....Praja ...B... Om Shanti Shanti Shanti".

After

I turn to old vices and get lazy. But forgive myself this time.

I pound the earth in protest. Nothing.

I lie and look at up at the beauty of a tree - and think of you. How you loved the forces of nature. The chaotic harmony and all the systems.. and I thankyou for giving me your appreciation for humanity's architecture. You knew Places.

I think of you. I laugh about our silly humour. Your silly cryptic clever texts.

In memory's garden, where memories bloom,

We gather to honor, amidst the quiet gloom.

A heart that cherished creatures great and small,

With love for each whisper, every gentle call.

You wandered through cities, where history sings,

Admiring the architecture that time gently brings.

Old European streets, with stories to share,

You walked with such wonder, capturing the air.

And oh, how you savored that chocolate mousse,

A sweet little joy, a delightful excuse.

In laughter and warmth, your spirit will stay,

In the hearts of all who loved you each day.

So here’s to your journey, as you take to the skies,

With animals near you, and stars in your eyes.

Though we part in this moment, your light will remain,

In the love that you gave us, forever we’ll gain.

Lovely to see old friends again!

Kisses greer

Martin Jacobson.

For me 

their break

was bad

and so,

the break from Rob.

their break...

for having to divide

the boys from girls,

the family over which

he did preside.

The family- a treat for all;

Greer and the girls and Rob,

perhaps too good to be.

A little home from home,

and Charlie Chaplin too...

A friend of Lester's friends

Another place to dream

Another bit of color to our lives

was Rowntree street.

then...to the hill... to Coogee hill

the path

that hugged the round...

To sea

it had to be!

He always seemed so clear

that sea was near.

The bunker on the hill,

His cabin engineered,

that seemed it missed the sensors eye...

...and so, we'd have a drink

and to a sacred space proceed,

a rocky edge

to watch...

the cathedral in the sky

...the gulls that took 

the time to play

and we would look to Rob

to talk

the order of the systems of the sea

and sky

and feel the marvel of it all...

......and pray.

I think we loved him in his soft and quiet way and it was a great loss when he cut us out.

...and why?

and no,

you could not know

because it was done

And so goodbye Rob. 

A remarkable friendship.

Over the years, Rob reminded me many times that he would not have passed Matric maths, had it not been for my tutoring him.

Of course I enjoyed hearing it.

And I, reluctantly initially, but later wholeheartedly, agreed.

It was one of those things…..and there were many others…that would come up during the course of our endless conversations, over the years. … little milestones, marking the journey of our shared lives.

He loved bringing this up.

Somehow all those early conceptualizations of abstract mathematical language had come really easily to me.

It was simply a gift.

I don’t recall ever doing anything to enable it, or even improve it, until much later on in my life, and even then only marginally, even though Rob’s mother Lisa insisted that I should become an actuary.

For a short while I took her seriously.

But I was able to pass on to him enough of the required skills to allow him to make it through those ridiculous exams.

I think he even got a B

But I remember being surprised, that what I had thought of as elementary ideas and skills that came so easily to me seemed to give him such a problem.

I knew he wasn’t a shmendrik.

But it took me a while to understand just what was going on.

He simply didn’t have the kind of brain that I had.

One that could take information in, store it, reorganize it, and then use it to solve similar problems.

He had another kind of mind.

One that wasn’t tethered, like mine to only the things I had already absorbed

He was a totally original and creative thinker.

One of the few truly original thinkers I have known in my life.

And what I saw, was that the building blocks that I had considered essential to thinking and solving problems,

he didn’t need….or even care for, because he was already outside of those boundaries, investigating the world beyond where we were.

Many times he blew me away by saying something so outlandishly out of the box, that i sometimes thought he had just smoked too much.

But invariably once I had time to let things settle, I began to see that it was he who was the teacher, and I was the student.

And in the process, this enormously thoughtful man introduced me to much of what I have learned about life to this day.

Every day I miss him.

And there isn’t a day that goes by that something doesn’t remind me of him.

Sometimes the smallest thing.

We met when we were five.

Little picanins running around the streets of Greenside, Johannesburg, South Africa.

At aged 12 my mother died, from a horrible cancer, and as was the custom, being a Jewish family, my father, brother, sister and I sat on a hard bench doing “shiva” as people in the neighborhood filed through and wished us “Long Life” and ate the chopped liver and herring that someone had made.

We were the mourners.

Rob was the only one of my friends who came.

On his own.

Feeling absolutely awkward.

But wanting me to know that he cared.

Even then…..he was a remarkable friend.

We had seventy odd years more of similarly extraordinary shared times.

How many times did one of us fly half way across the planet to make sure that we could be together.

Johannesburg.

Capetown.

London.

Reading.

Else.

Amsterdam.

Vermont. New York. Boston. Saratoga. Montreal. Quebec City.

Kea.

Aix……Athens…..Aix.

And finally Marseilles,

Where I finally held him in my arms……or he held me……and I said goodbye to him.

Where next my friend?

Probably everywhere I go…….

Because you are always there.

Rob 1945- 2024

Rob your passing was a huge shock to me- I never imagined you would leave this planet before me.

You were always so strong never sick even when times were tough. It is hard for me to express the way I have been floored by your passing. 

I met you when I was nineteen, we met at university, you were studying Law, and I was studying Art- then you changed your mind and went into Architecture but ended up doing Town Planning. I followed you to Cape Town, where you continued your studies at Cape Town University and I started teaching Pottery and Art at Green Point Art Centre. We loved living at Llandudno practically on the beach, then we moved to our flat in Merriman Road Green Point on Signal Hill. It overlooked the harbour and we watched ships leaving from there, time and time again. We promised one day we'd be on one of those and leave apartheid behind us. We did eventually leave our homeland, our families, our known environment, and headed off into the big wide world to start our adventure together like the naive innocents that we were. And what an amazing adventure it was. It was certainly one way of growing up and getting an education!

I salute you Rob, my love, my teacher, my friend, my fellow traveller and I will always be grateful for the amazing life we had together, for the great friends we made along the way, for following your dream, and finally for being a wonderful father to our three beautiful children.

May you rest in Peace.

Greer