Tribute to Ray Rocuant

My cousin Ray, to me, is an inspiration.  He is much older than me, and growing up, I never got to see him all that much.  Even to this day, the amount of times I get to see him is minimal, yet when I do, his charisma, worldly knowledge, and free spirit, offer a type of inspiration and motivation that are hard to come by in this day and age.  I have heard him described by other family members as a true artist, living on his own terms, his own schedule, and essentially following his inner voice wherever it takes him.  Some may say he is not in touch with reality, but to me, he creates his own reality and lives it.  There doesn't seem to be an obstacle that he can not overcome.  Rather, he throws himself at any endeavor full force and lets the chips fall where they may.  But knowing the life he lives and how he has lived it is only part of the picture and the reason for his effect on me.  Whenever you are with him, engaged in conversation, it feels like you are the only other person in the room with him.  He seems to draw the conversation to the philosophical, pushing and prodding, inspecting actions, thoughts, and the rhythm of life in a way that is largely absent in most people.  Yet, while the philosophical may seem overbearing to some, he relates everything to personal stories from his life or the lives of people he has known.  In essence, he makes the conversation real, not ethereal and intangible.  It is this mix of philosophical tangents with concrete stories that entrances people, draws them in, and offers a view of a truly unique mind. 

It is not just the stories that draw you in, it is his unique ability to paint a verbal picture of anything he talks about with such vivid detail that you could almost step through the veil and live the story yourself.   Ray is passionate about what he has seen and done, passionate about the people he has met, passionate about life itself.  Its this passion that is intoxicating.  True passion like his is hard to find these days in people.  After spending an hour or two with Ray, listening and conversing, you begin to notice the absence of passion in other people.  I don't mean this in a negative way, its just something that happens.  He has a way of drawing the passion out of whoever he is with, if they are open to it.  I can see how some people would be turned off by him, by his tenacity for living a full life, yet to me its an example of someone grabbing life by the horns and riding it into the sunset, singing all the way.  The last time I saw him was a few years ago in California where he lives.  My wife and I went out there for a week and stayed at his house in the Sierra Nevada's.  I got to know more about then than any time previously.  And to be perfectly honest, that is where the idea first got planted in my head to start a blog.  It took me a little while to get started on the blog, but I credit the start of it to Ray.  Without our conversations, the stories exchanged, the philosophical debates, I probably wouldn't have started the blog. 

Trying to pay tribute to Ray in three paragraphs is not necessarily an easy thing to do, but then again, trying to sum up how anyone affects me in three paragraphs is challenging.  I would love to go on about the stories of his life, but I want to simply touch on his inspiration, his charisma, his vivacity that have impacted me.  He shows you what is possible if you live life with passion, if you dedicate yourself to what you are doing, and follow your inner voice.  While some may seem him as never truly "settling down", I see him as someone who is tune with his passions, however they may change and wherever they may lead him.  He is an amazing person, drawn to the nuances of life that make it fascinating.  His unique perspective on life offers me a view of what could be.  In short, it instills in me a desire to live my own life with passion, to follow my inner voice (which I normally do) and cherish every person and event that happens.  Ray is an example of how not to let any opportunity slip by, but rather dive right in, explore, and make every experience your own.  Some might say that I am idealizing him, striving to live the life that he has, but to be honest, I wouldn't want to live his life.  While it is fascinating to hear about, I have my own life, my own experiences, my own stories to tell.  Ray is simply an example of how to live life to the fullest.  So to Ray, his life, his stories, and his passion, I pay tribute.  Here is to many more years Ray, chock full of whatever you fill them with, for I know anything you do will be done with passion.