Today

September 21, 1983, my childhood friend and sweetheart died in a motorcycle accident. I will never forget that day. It changed me forever.

It was a very misty, rainy Louisiana morning. The first cool one of the year. I was at LSU, and I can remember walking to class noticing that the rain had stopped, and it was becoming my favorite kind of day. Bluest sky, cool air...the best. I remember seeing my brother Vance and thinking that he was not supposed to be there. He was there to pick me up and bring me home, since Danny had been in a wreck. I did not understand why we weren't just going to the hospital instead of my house. But we did, and when we drove up, I noticed all the cars. So many. When I walked in, everybody was crying and looking at me. I knew.

For the longest time I would go hang out at the cemetery, talking to him. If you've ever done that, you know it's a very quiet empty feeling. A one way conversation. After some time, I decided to take my flowers to the nursing home instead of Danny's grave. I would just pick random rooms to give them to. It seemed more productive.

I know that no matter where they are, his family is thinking the same things that I am. Where they were, how they reacted. I love you, McNemars, all of you. It has been 26 years. Peace, Danny.