The Speare Bearer: Time with the Rajchel’s, Libertyville, IL, 08/10-08/13 I may or may not have been explicit about this before, but this entire project is inspired by, and mostly dedicated to my friend Tommy Rajchel who passed away last year. He was my best friend in New York, we went to the same.college, hung with a lot of the.same people, and were.the same age, but we only really got close after we both moved to NY. He suffered a tragic fall last year amd died. One of the main reasons I had the guts to even attempt this tour is because I kept thinking about the advice Tommy would have given me if I could ask him what to do about this crazy Shakespeare on a bike idea. “Go for it, man. Gotta push it to the limit.When you leavin’?” Over the last year and a half I’ve been blessed to get close with his folks. Grace amd Richard, they are the two faces near mine at the bottom of the picture. Above are two friends of theirs. They are terrific people, the only kind of people who could have raised a son like Tommy. I promised to visit them in Libertyville, a suburb north of Chicago where they live, and where Tommy was raised, and I did indeed get to spend a weekend with them. It was great because I got to see 1st hand how Tommy became Tommy, and where all his crazy stories come from. It was a beautiful time. Sometimes it was intense, and emotional, we talked about Tommy a lot, and cried sometimes, but we also did a lot of things, like attending an Oldies dance with their grieving group, and laughed a lot more than I thought we would. Tommy’s folks are such sweet generous people, with a great sense of humor. I wouldn’t say they are unhappy at this point, but they are definitely sad, but they are continuing to live life and fight to keep Tommy’s memory alive. We miss you Tommy. Thomas Rajchel-(1984-2011) R.I.P.
Tags:   grief, death, love, family, shakespeare, friendship, inspiration, theater, tour, libertyville, chicago, illinois, art, SCAD, NEW YORK, BIKE, bicycle, sad, parents,
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