Robison Sundell

A very close friend of mine passed away today from a serious longboarding accident. Last night, I drove up to Salt Lake last night to see him at the hospital. When I first found out that he was hurt, all we knew was that it was bad, really bad. They told me to just to stay at home because I wouldn't be able to do much up there either. I felt terrible sitting at home and all I could do was cry...then I got the call saying that he didn't have much of a chance of pulling through and I drove right up to the hospital. I was a few minutes away when the call came saying that we had to go in and say goodbye a few at a time.

Robi's parents were sitting with him and when I walked in, I lost it. I kept hugging his parents and then I just started telling them all about Robi and what he did for me...I was most impressed by how much they cared about me. When their son was lying there on the hospital bed, they asked us who we were, how we were doing, if we had any questions. They are amazing.


I just sent this email to his brother who had asked friends to send some memories and pictures his way. I was going to write a blog about Robi but thought that just sharing this email would be enough.

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Every story I have about Mr. Robison is a great one but if I told you them all now...this could easily be the longest email of my life. I have many pictures and I'll send some of my favs, but if you want more, I would love to send them your way.

My story with Robi Sundell started my sophomore year at BYU. The Lib Square brought us together. This lone man from Vegas was thrown into a bunch of rowdy guys from Burley and they were perfect for each other. I was instantly drawn to his outgoing personality and loved the way that he was just Robi, whether you liked it or not. He volunteered to let me question him about relationships. He even did mini-dates with me where we sat down for 10 minutes just so I could get points for my marriage prep class - let me tell you, those were some of the greatest mini-dates of my life. He always came up with the most amazing, silly, goofy comments. Before long, Robi would show up in a robe only to then strip of it and make us scream as he danced/chased us in his speedo. Liberty Square did a Halloween dance and of course Robi shows up in his long, white trash, blonde wig, a pink robe, and rollerblades. Pretty soon he was just sporting that lovely speedo again. My apartment does General Conference breakfasts and even when Robi and I didn't live by each other - he would show up and save us. He would take over the kitchen and make the eggs, pancakes, bacon, and french toast better than 1 girl manning each station could. Then no matter how hard we fought it, he would clean up after. My best friend and I are big into BYU Basketball and decided to campout at the Marriott so that we could get good tickets for the BYU vs. UofU game. Robi let us take his tent and the warmest sleeping bags he had. We were determined that we could put that tent up ourselves but when dark rolled around and the snow started falling and we were failing miserably - Robi showed up anyway and made sure we were going to be alright.

Then there was the JEWEL. I am not a crazy daredevil type but Robi pushed me into that monster of a car and drove me right up mountains. I have never said "What are we doing?! What are we doing!?" in a higher, more terrified scream in my life. I have a few videos from that night and in one of them you can hear him say, "Apparently, you get in big trouble if they catch ya." Of course, we were doing it anyway. Oh - and one of my favorite things I learned about Robi that year was that he grew a mustache whenever he was mad at a girl. haha so Robi.

I am so glad the our friendship didn't end after Liberty Square. We both moved and lived about 8 blocks from each other. Robi would show up at least weekly to my place with his longboard. We talked about everything. I can still close my eyes and hear his voice and see him lick his bottom lip the way he did when he was telling a good story. Most of the time we argued over motorcycles and guns - 2 things I dislike so much, 2 things he loved, the 2 things that we joked would ever keep us from being together forever. This summer he called me to see if I was home. I told him I was sitting on my lawn reading and he was going to come over. 2 minutes later I hear a motorcycle stop by my house. There was Robi who had rode up onto the sidewalk with the most gigantic motorcycle I have ever seen. I got on it with him and I still can't believe I did it, but I knew Robi would take care of me. He wouldn't go faster than I wanted and I think he is the only man that will ever get me on a bike. The last thing I said to Robi was how much I loved him even if he loved the two things I would never allow...

Robi blessed my life so much. He made me smile more than anyone I have ever met. He cared about our friendship and made an effort to see me. He made me feel special, loved, unique, and proud to be Tati.