Rob and Linda Robertson have an unbelievable story that has moved countless people. Tams and I first heard about their story a few months ago through social media and the article Linda had written for Huffington Post that went viral, entitled “Just Because He Breathes: Learning to Truly Love Our Gay Son.”
We didn’t realize they lived a couple hours south of us, and that we had a mutual friend as well. Their story moved us so much, we connected with them via Facebook, and then as fate would have it, managed to have the pleasure of meeting Linda for lunch in October of this year. Having my own struggles with my parents accepting my sexuality, I was just so amazed to hear the grace and love that poured from Linda that day. Even her enthusiasm, to our wedding day, wanting to know more, what a gift that was. We knew we had met a lifelong friend.
Not long after that, we heard that Rob & Linda were asked to be keynote speakers at this year’s Gay Christian Network [GCN] Conference in Chicago.
We had been planning to attend this year for our third conference in a row, and were ecstatic that Rob & Linda would get to share their story with the beautiful community of GCN.
A couple weeks before Christmas, Linda called me and wanted my opinion on an idea for the opening of their keynote speech. She had seen some of my sketches on Facebook – most likely from the Movember batch I was working on – and wondered if I would be up for helping. I did not hesitate, as I would willingly do anything to help this amazing family!
I had a 2 week break coming up from the studio over Christmas, but I had already scheduled a couple projects to work on for that time. I managed to push things around and put aside a solid 4 days to devote to this project.
Working with Linda who wrote the script, their friend [and now mine!] Trenton Waterson who acted as Producer and managed all the details, and his contact Jesse Springer who could do the voiceover work – we managed to pull together this little short film that summarizes their journey with their son Ryan. While I wish I would have had a month or two to work on this and not 4 days, I am so thankful I was able to help out!
Watch and share – this story of true love, hope and redemption is for everyone.
Just Because He Breathed. from theCollaborate on Vimeo.
STACEY CHOMIAK 