The picture above is one Dave took of himself about a minute after I showed him our new digital camera. I don't know that he'd consider it one of his best, but to me it represents a lot of what I loved about him. A spontanious act of humor. This was very Dave.
The quote at the top of the page, Dave told me, was from "The Lord of The Rings" by J.R.R. Tolken. He adopted it as his moto even before he got sick, and embraced it after he knew his time was limited. He had it on bumper stickers on the backs of both of his vehicles, and put it on his card.
He said he always wanted to say "my card" and slip one to whoever he was talking to, so when it became possible to print cards at home, he and I worked one out for him. The early cards were just the text, but eventually I ran across his favorite Far Side cartoon in electronic form, and we added that to his card too. His real phone number was on the cards he handed out, of course, but since that number will end up with someone else I've used "000-0000" on the image above.
The popular expression for someone who finally dies due to a disease is that they "lost the fight." I know what people mean by that, but I don't really accept that definition for Dave. Yes, it killed him, but no, he didn't loose the fight. It's just over. He won, as much as was possible, when he knew he was going to die and decided to realize some of his dreams before the end came.
I'll be adding more to this as I can.
Please write to me at Paralyn Associates at paralyn@comcast.net with any stories or memories. Please remember to tell me if what you're sending is OK to add to the site or not. I'd like to hear from you even if you don't want your comments public.