Summer of 2007 – my first Work&Travel experience – started with a housekeeper job at the Golden Sands Resort, on beautiful Lake George, where I’ve met Bob (the boss or the owner or Mr. Bob – I know how much you hate it when someone called you like that). You told me that if I want to save some money, I should get a second job. And as strange and as difficult it was for me to go and just knock on employers’ door asking for a job, you helped me and encouraged me to do it. So I got a job as a cashier at the leather outlet, but unfortunately my experience was unpleasant. In this time you started to dislike the guy that worked for you in the office and (after 3 weeks of housekeeping) you offered me the front desk job (this way I didn’t need a second job). I still remember the way you let me listen to the conversation between you and the customers (guests – you never called them clients) on the other phone, until I learned.
My English was not great (it still isn’t), but I’ve learned a lot from you! You even gave me a dictionary as a present “For Andra who has a keen on learning English”.
I came to the US alone, I barely spoke English, I remember talking to you and putting the verb in two tenses because I didn’t know what the correct form was and you were always correcting me and explaining so many things.
After a whole summer of working at the motel, you rewarded me with a vacation in New York. You’ve made a reservation and paid for a 2-night hotel room in the city that never sleeps for me, before my flight to my aunt, in California. I was overwhelmed, I couldn’t believe that, I can’t remember how I reacted, all I know is that the moment I realized that I was about to visit one of the biggest cities in the world alone… I started to cry! Because after 2 months of meeting new people every single day, I was about to visit the Big Apple and I had no one to share those moments with! All I had by my side on those two days were my camera and my iPod singing Frank Sinatra – New York, New York on repeat!
You wanted me to be happy, so the next summer when I came, you offered a contract to a friend of mine, so I wouldn’t be alone there anymore.
You taught me so many things I can’t even remember. Every time you were learning me something, you called it lesson of the day.
You taught me about:
- art – you graduated Fine Arts – Painting – you had paintings in your house and you explained me techniques (which are the same in photography – you knew I was passionate about it);
- pottery – you had a collection of these and you taught me about how they were made and by who;
- coins – at the end of each summer, you were giving as a gift, to all your employees a little piece of “real American history” – a one silver dollar coin! (either a Morgan dollar, or a Peace dollar);
- diamonds – when a lady forgot her engagement ring, you took a loupe and looked at the ring and started drawing a diamond on a piece of paper and explaining the cuts to me and where all the brightness and the clarity comes from;
- weapons – you once received a hunting magazine and I started looking through it and when I was looking at the weapons section you asked me if I knew anything about weapons (of course I didn’t) so you took me into your house and showed me 2 hunting rifles and then you brought 2 pistols to the office (a revolver and a semi-automatic one) and I held them in my hands! First time in my life when I held a weapon in my hand!
- and so many other things I can’t remember right now…
During this pandemic, my mom asked me to write to you, to see how are you doing this season, whether this has affected you or not, but I didn’t… I kept postponed it until September.
On September 26th, I said that’s it, today is your birthday, no more excuses! So I wrote to you, but the answer I received left me speechless… and tearless… and it had only these 3 words: Bob passed away. It took me a few seconds to figure out the meaning of these 3 words and once I realized I started crying… and sobbing…
I replied to that email and asked how and when did this happen? It was Liz, your girlfriend, who told me that you passed away unexpectedly of cancer and that she moved up there now and runs the motel and she misses you terribly 🥺
I still can’t believe this happened… we spent 6 summers together, 6 summers full of work, an intensive and continuous course about life, about learning, about people… about you… about me… about discovering myself and the world around.
Thank you Bob for everything! (another tear just ran down the cheek…)
Every time you helped someone or gave something for free, you used to say: “I won’t be the richest man in the cemetery!” May God rest your soul in peace and the angels to always be there with you! 🙏
RIP Robert S. Risman Jr!
PhotogrAndra 