I did not know Robin Williams. Never met the man. However he made me laugh many times over the course of my life and as I age I certainly become more and more aware of how important laughter is and what a gift it is to be able to make another human being laugh.

This has not been a funny summer for me. Another death from cancer, a cancer scare, and some feuding among family members. Three close friends had their marriages crash this summer. One friend's wife has slipped back into the arms of addiction and he had finally had enough. So, he packed up and left unable to watch the destruction. Another showed up at my door one Sunday saying simply "I left can I stay with you a couple days."

And the third in a fit of rage and having previously been unwilling to admit to even himself his marriage was on the rocks blurted out in the midst of a tirade that his wife was in therapy and he did not think he would be married much longer. All three of these marriages involve young children.

Being able to at least make these three guys laugh a little has been pretty important but never more so than this past weekend. I was asleep in my hotel room when my cell phone rang in the middle of the night. Phone calls in the dead of night are never a good thing and this was no different.

The voice on the other end of the phone was the definition of devastated. Tears, moans, guttural gasps of pain and all too violent anguish came in waves from the other end of the call. It was one of my friends that had left his family and now after some kind of heartbreaking conversation with his wife he had decided to off himself...and I was the last call, the living note to bear witness to this act.

I don't think the word panic comes anywhere near describing the place I went during these insane moments on the phone. The level of helplessness you feel when someone close to you tells you they will be dead before morning and you are nowhere near close enough to get there and you know the depression they are dealing with is as deep and wide as the Atlantic...well, it is like somebody sliced you open and your guts are lying there on the floor in front of you.

Somehow for some reason I began screaming into the phone immediately waking and scaring the hell out of my wife. Hearing the sheer panic and desperation in my voice and what I was saying she began weeping and tried to grab hold of me as I was now pacing the hotel room like a manic cheetah on speed.

Somewhere among all the bullshit I was yelling into the phone and pleading to think about his 9 year old daughter who adores him and what that would do to her I screamed "You stupid son of a bitch, there is no reason for you to kill yourself at this point because after this call I am going to kill you!" and there was a pause where I was not sure if what I heard was more weeping or a death rattle...then it became clearer and I realized it was laughter albeit weak and a little choked and he said "You would do that for me wouldn't you?"

I yelled totally serious and not joking at all "You can count on it and I won't do it the easy way! So get a good nights sleep because I'm coming for you tomorrow!"

"You're a good friend." he slurred into the phone and then laughed a little more. "I'll sleep so you can kill me tomorrow." and the sound of the phone dropping to the floor.

I hung up and called the police.

Thankfully, he survived the night and so did I although I can say at that point it was not easy for either of us.

Pain and laughter seem so intertwined and losing Robin Williams this summer leaves us with one less person with that amazing gift...and one of the most amazingly gifted...