Here is the Speech I gave at my Middle School’s 8th grade “Moving Up” ceremony.  It is all about perspective – and how easy it is to change it.

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Supermoon4I cannot keep count of the number of times that people have approached me, or my wife Samantha, and commented on our “strength”.  People tell us over and over that what we have done in the wake of our tragic loss is something they themselves could never do given the same situation.   My usual response after that comment is “Perspective is a funny thing and you never know what you are capable of until you are in a situation in which you cannot possibly imagine yourself in.”  The idea of perspective is something I already wrote about a couple weeks ago, and it was the main idea of the commencement speech I gave on June 21st to my Middle School’s graduating 8th grade class.  After I gave the speech countless parents, colleagues, former students and current students sought me out to tell me that I inspire them and that they … Read More

62151_236773599789153_618343272_nThose who know me personally are keenly aware that, at my core, I am nothing more than an overgrown child who refuses to let go of the fantasies and hopes that most people jettison long before adulthood.  It is not an uncommon site in my home to see me watching a cartoon while simultaneously reading a scientific article about Quantum mechanics or the latest developments in genetic engineering.  Even today, at the age of 38, I would rather take a trip to Toy’s R Us than to Home Depot.  I can just as easily recite the entire rosters of the Justice League of America and the Avengers (including part timers!) as I can the structural differences between the 20 amino acids that make up all of our proteins.  I am a man of science whose major thought processes are structured around the precepts of reason and logic who can still … Read More

Everything that I have written since Rees’ passing shares one thing in common: it’s from my perspective – the grieving father who lost his only boy.  The pages of text I have placed out into cyberspace have documented my struggles and doubts, my ups and my downs.  In return, countless people who I do not know, and most likely will never meet, have showered me with support and urged me to continue documenting my grief and sharing my hopes.  Through it all I have remained the voice of ReesSpecht Life, and by extension Rees.  As much as I may represent the voice of my little boy, there is no doubt about who is ,was,  and always will be the living heart of who he was and what ReesSpecht Life is all about; my wife, Samantha.

Samantha and I are a couple that defies the odds.   We met in the summer … Read More

Of all the words that I have written, and all of the feelings I have expressed, the one thing I have yet had the courage to say, (or write) is goodbye.  I never liked saying goodbye.  It always meant the end of something good, something positive.  Goodbye’s are often temporary, and sometimes forever.  We rarely, if ever, say goodbye to things we do not like.  In those cases we say good riddance, or “see ya”, but goodbye is reserved for things we wish to see again.  I have always found it ironic that the word goodbye is used with the intention of hopefully seeing that person again, though the word itself seems so final and makes no mention of future acquaintances.   Interestingly,  the expression goodbye has analogs in other languages, but their meaning is slightly different and often does reference the hope of future encounters.  In German, for instance, the
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