22 years ago I met the most amazing man. Rick was funny and kind and nerdy and caring and adventurous and he made me smile. He was proud of his job and the work he did. He loved his dogs – Lily, and Lola before her. He was ridiculously proud of all his nieces and nephews, and he thought the world of both his sisters. We had built the most incredible life together – a home, a dog, a business, a plan for our future. The hole he is leaving in that life and those plans will never be filled.

One of Rick's best friends recently told me that he believed our spirits choose the life they are born into and the experiences we need to go through in order to grow and learn as beings. That means that long before either of us met, our spirits chose this life together in order to go through what we needed to understand and experience to become better as individuals. This thought has brought me so much comfort in the last week, and somehow all the pain seems a little easier to endure knowing that there is a purpose to it and that Rick is now better because of it. But now it is also time to say good-bye for this life time.

Rick left a very thoughtful will guiding me through his wishes. Everything he requested is absolutely the best and most thoughtful part of Ricky - including the details of a memorial complete with the playlist he wants us to listen to, and he even plotted out a scavenger hunt of GPS coordinates around the world guiding me to the places he would like his ashes scattered. I am going to do my best to honor all his desires, but I am going to need help to make sure he gets home to us and he is taken care of and we can celebrate his life properly.

Because he was away on a work trip when he passed there are significant costs and logistics associated with brining him home. Alaska Airlines (his absolute favorite place to work ever) has been absolutely amazing and will be flying him home one last time, but there are special legal requirements including the services of two different funeral homes in different states to coordinate his final cross country trip.

Many people know Rick and I loved to go to the theatre together. We had seen nearly 200 shows together. Some shows were amazing and some... well they were less than amazing, ha! But no matter what the show was like, we saw them together, and we cherished that time with each other to step away from all the other stresses of life and reconnect with each other. I have been dreading ever going back to see a show without him. So in memory of Rick, we will be contributing to the campaign to help restore the seats in the Paramount Theatre in downtown Seattle. Rick's name will be engraved on the seat he has sat in for every show there over the last 15 years (Seat MF2 G7). That way he can always be next to me when I go, and all his friends and loved ones can go see a show with him.

A memorial will be held in early 2025 (we are tentatively targeting early March). Again, logistical challenges of bringing him home and the timing of the holidays means that an immediate memorial is not possible, and then winter weather in the PNW will be a challenge for all his friends and family to travel to Seattle. March seems like the best opportunity for as many people to come together and share in the joy that he brought us all over the years. We will me making those plans in the coming weeks and announce details as soon as they are available.

The friends and family and community that loved Rick, and has shown up to carry me during this time, is simply beautiful and remarkable. There are no words to express what this means to me and what that love would me to Rick. We are truly lucky in our lives to have you all around us. With all that love pouring in, I was reluctant to ask for financial help, but many of you have reached out and so genuinely want to help and be a part of helping get him home and celebrate him. So I am creating this GoFundMe as a way for all of us to wrap our arms around him one last time. Every gift of any kind or size is appreciated. None are expected.

I love you all.

Ray