Of all the people that knew Dan, I was probably the one that knew him least. Six short months I had to get to know one of the most unique individuals I have ever met. To pick one memory is hard so I didn’t I picked a whole handful to illustrate the kind of man Dan was to me.
Kind to a fault:
Dan had a stalker; I mean a really bad stalker. I laughed hysterically when I found out who it was and I laughed even harder when I had the chance to watch him tip toe around her in an attempt be nice but not lead her on. One day we (Dan, Brad, and I) were driving somewhere in my truck when we happened to pass by this individual that was in such an amorous way for Dan. He immediately headed for the floor boards, literally. He took off his belt and was trying to crouch down under the dash board to avoid being seen which meant I pulled up next to her and asked if she was looking for Dan. He sat up and just smiled like it was completely normal for people to cower under the glove box. Now anyone else would be completely justified in cursing me and my lineage for the rest of eternity but instead as we drove away he just shook his head and said, “Was that really necessary?” I loved the way Dan could take a joke and rarely, if ever, did I hear him insult someone else.
Determined….to a fault:
The first time I’d ever gone four wheeling Dan took me down to the Green River. As we were tooling around Dan heard a clanking noise emanating from his bike. He immediately diagnosed the problem as something rattling around in the piston so instead of putting his bike on the trailer and calling it good he proceeded to tear his bike apart thinking to perform mechanical surgery in the middle of the desert. After an hour I thought he would give up, no. We struggled for some time to pull the header off but something stopped us, impeding our endeavors. Finally I grabbed a hold of the top of the motor and pulled hard and broke the thing clean off because there were two bolts still holding it on. It’s at this point that his kindness kicked in because I would have beaten someone to death if they’d broken my motor but no he just laughed and then said, “Don’t worry I think we can fix that with some gasket sealant.” We really couldn’t and shouldn’t have tried but we did anyway. Finally we got everything more or less put back together and he looked down and realized the noise was just a loose fitting on the exhaust pipe. So we finally called it a day only because at that point it was too dark to see a foot in front of our faces.
Compassionate to accentuate my fault:
Dan never met a friend he didn’t want to make, or a person in need he wasn’t willing to try and pick up. He gathered people to him like a shepherd bringing in the reject sheep. It was amazing to witness his utter disregard for his own needs or capacities when he would immediately promise to provide whatever someone needed in order to make them comfortable. Whether it was a place to stay for a night or close to five months, or if it was offering to mediate between quarreling lovers , or if it was just a kind word and a smile to someone on the outskirts of a group Dan had a way of making sure that no one was at the bottom. I love and respect him for his ability to sacrifice and willingness to serve at a moment’s notice. My fondest memory of Dan is probably just the pure example of character and how to live a life without regret.
Kyle Richardson
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