In the wake of Dan's passing, it is sometimes hard to remember that those of us who have been left behind have a lot to be thankful for. It is probably because he himself gave us so much to be thankful for that we miss him so much.
For me, I am especially thankful for those 7 cancer-free years between Dan's two cancer diagnoses. While I have a lot of good memories of growing up with Dan (and a lot of memories of us wanting to kill each other!) we became a lot closer after he got sick the first time, especially after his car accident.
So while I miss Danny horribly, I am especially grateful that I got to enjoy those extra years with him. (This is actually rare for people with Fibrolamellar.) We got to see him graduate from Penn State. He got to see the Phillies win the World Series. He got to be an uncle. He raced in 5 Livestrong Challenges. He got to attend many parties and made many people laugh. He started the Festivus tradition. He got to fall in love.
Thanksgiving was very difficult in some ways this year. I tried to keep myself very busy so I wouldn't have time to dwell on this, but it didn't work as well as I'd have liked it to. I missed chatting with Dan about the food. I missed the off-color jokes at the kids' table. But we still had a "rowdy" table, and we still got to see the family. And Dan shaped the day in subtle ways. Some of the dishes included spices or oils that Dan gave me for Christmas last year. Poo made his beloved mushroom turnovers. But there were other new things, too.
Dan packed so much joy into his too short life. I am so thankful that I got to have a small part of it.
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