Thank you RJD - you're the one!

[MadMartin]

This was written 21th of may, 21:08 CET, Stockholm, Sweden:

“I’m sitting in my daughter’s room waiting for her to fall a sleep. Five days have past since the departure of my all-time hero. I love music and his music helped me through the tough times of my childhood and youth. As a family man my focus was turned away from music and guitar playing later years. Though I was always present at Dio’s shows in Stockholm and was looking forward to seem him perform December 2009. The show was cancelled due to Ronnie’s illness. I hoped for the best and my gut feeling told me this would work out and he would be well (I recently had a similar experience with a friend who survived it). I was regularly checking on ronniejamesdio.com for updates and I was confident that everything was going the right way. I purchased ticket for the Sonisphere Festival in Stockholm this summer where Dio with Heaven & Hell was scheduled to play. And I hoped for the best…

Sunday 16th of May I was driving home from a lecture that I was giving and turned on the CD in the car. It played “This is your Life” and when I came to the part “What if the flame won’t last forever” I thought “ Yeah, what if?” and the morning after I visited the homepage to find the devastating news.

The King is Dead!

I was in shock for a brief moment. I’ve never met him so I was really not expecting to feel such strong grief and loss, but I did! Did I know the man through his music? Or is just a fake image that I’ve loved which I now mourn? My strong feeling confused me, I never care for passing of celebrities before…
The man was with me through the dark years of my life and I love life nowadays and he had a great part in "saving me". His humble ways does not decrease my love for him. Now five days after his passing I still cry daily. This evening I had a live recording with the man running in the background and my daughter (5 yers old) said spontaneously “this guy sings really good” and then I really knew his legacy would live on forever.

For the first days after his passing I could not listen to any of his songs, I just could not. Every time a woke up in the morning he was the first thing I thought about. I red some memorials from other fans and I think it gave me some comfort. Remember that you are always stronger together!

Love you RJD! You will always be number one to me!
I’m so sad that I can not hear any of the new music from you that I know lived in your mind, BUT I’m awfully thankful for all the great music, memories and support you have given as a role model. I will always carry you with me in my heart! You will be dearly missed (with tears in my eyes). I can’t thank you enough for everything you gave us!

/M