Farewell to David Rodriguez

You can shed tears because he is gone, or you can smile because he lived. You can close your eyes and pray he comes back or you can open your eyes and see all that he left for us. Your heart can be empty because you can’t see him, or you can be full of the love you all shared. You can cry, lose your mind, drive yourself crazy, be empty and guard your heart, or you can do what he would want: smile, open your eyes, live happily, love deeply and go on.

For you, Dave, we will choose to smile through the pain, open our eyes to the world around us, live happily, love deeply and go on. We will be strong and fierce, like you. We will seize the moment, like you. We will be brave and bold, like you.

Your death shattered us, but we will fill those cracks with gold and those flaws will show the history of our broken but mending hearts. We will live like you lived, love like you loved and fight like you fought.

Today, we are choosing to fill the emptiness in our hearts with all the love and joy you left us.

Although none of us expected this day to come so quickly, or even at all, here we are, filled with sadness and an emptiness that is unimaginable.

Dave was the light in so many lives. His legacy lives on in each of his children; Jessie, David, Samantha, Miranda and Ryan. Let’s remember to lift them up with laughter and stories remembering their loving, adventurous, one-of-a-kind father.

Dave brought us joy and laughter the moment he walked into a room. You could feel his smile from his text messages. He was infectious. He was kind and giving and strong. He didn’t have friends, he had family, and treated each person as such. Dave was the glue that held us all together, so it’s up to us to band together and send him off the way that he truly deserves.

Dave was not just my cousin, he was my brother in every way. And in our last conversation, he asked me to handle his final arrangements & I am honoring his final request with the help of all of you! 

At his daughters request and with her blessing, all donations will be transferred to me and I will apply them towards funeral and burial expenses as well as his celebration of life gathering. Anything left over I will apply towards Ryan’s future. 

Funeral arrangements and celebration of life luncheon are in the works and will be posted as soon as they are finalized. 

Donations can be made directly here or via Zelle or Venmo (please contact me for details).