How do you say goodbye to one of the best people you've ever had the priviledge to know? I should be used to it at my age. I sit and watch my circle of friends shrinking, getting ever smaller and smaller. The ironic thing about our relationship is that it began as an online friendship. My rule of thumb for social media being that the people there were make believe, made up profiles. But over the years many of these "profiles" became real people. Toby was one of those people. You knew him as @smithlabs, that was his handle here on Hive. I knew him as Toby, Toby Smith, and in the scope of the world wide web, a neighbor- he lived only three hours away. He passed away on May 19, after a long bout with cancer.
But I don't want to dwell on how he died, except to say he was preceeded in death by the love of his life, Deb. (4/13/23)
I'd much rather focus on how he lived. In addition to being an American patriot, he was a devout Christian- not the kind that spends their life telling people how they should live, but one whose life was guided by the teachings of Jesus. He belonged to a small church in Tulsa that focused on being of service to their fellow human beings rather than preaching. Every week they provided meals to Tulsa's homeless population. To tell you what kind of man he was, during the scamdemic the authorities shut down their food program but Toby and friends defied the authorities and continued providing meals for the needy changing locations to stay one step ahead of those who would shut them down.
Toby changed the lives of those that knew him, always for the better. The last thing he would have wanted is for those who knew him to be sad at his passing. He has graduated and is reunited with his precious Debbie. Yet knowing this, I'm still filled with an overwhelming sadness and sense of loss. I'm sorry it took so long for me to report... I'm just having trouble finding a way to say goodbye.