I had just moved to corpus for a new job. It was too hard. I was cracking up and desperate. I didn’t know what to do.

Rick showed up out of nowhere. He set up his air mattress bed in the living room, shrugged and said he just needed a vacation.

Over the weekend, we went to the surf club and the beach and the whataburger by the bay. We talked about the usual stuff, but work never came up.

And then eventually, during a quiet moment sitting in the sand staring at the ocean, he asked about the job. I told him it was horrible and I didn’t think I could do it. “It’s going to be OK,” he told me. That’s all he said. It was enough. I believed him. And of course, he was right.

He was always there for me.

He always will be.

It’s going to be OK.

And yes, I inherited my impeccable fashion sense from him.