Dear Friends,
As many of you know, my husband, Dan, was US Vietnam vet who survived torture. Six years ago today, was Dan's 59th birthday; his last as it turned out. So, today would have been Dan's 65th birthday.
I think that deserves a celebration, a celebration of his life. What better way to celebrate than with a diary for Netroots for the Troops, an organization devoted to sending care packages to the troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Join me and celebrate a wonderful life and help a very important cause.
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Today is a day of celebration:
So, I thought I would tell you a bit about Dan's favourite things.
He was a proud member of the Society for Creative Anachronism.
An organization that recreates the Middle Ages and Renaissance "not as they were, but as they should have been. Over thirty years of service in the SCA, he earned the highest honour possible for service. It was where we meant, twenty years before getting together romantically.
http://www.sca.org/
Dan (Siegfried the Immane) resting between rounds in a combat tournament :
Here is a clearer rendition of his arms, which are in his surcoat in that photograph :
Dan had wanted to have my arms tattooed over his heart, after he heard from a friend that the friend has his lady's arms tattooed over his heart, but his doctor wouldn't let him, because of Dan's diabetes and the risk of infection. After his death, I had Dan's boar's head tattoed over my heart, so I will always have his heart beat in mine.
One of the careers Dan had over his life was being the head technician, for a cinema theatre, and the district head technician for the chain. He LOVED movies. Our first, and only date before we got married was when he brought me down to his theatre and ran this movie after hours:
Another career Dan had, the one he was really made for, was police officer. He was on the Washington State Patrol for 13 years, some of it in the Canine Unit. His partner's name was Goliath, a very large German Shepard. It broke both their hearts when Goliath had to retire and Dan had to give him away because Goliath couldn't understand why he couldn't go to work any more.
Another one of his favourite things was reading, but that became progressively more difficult over the years, due to diabetic neuropathy. So, we started a tradition where I would read to him at night. His favourite in the later years was the series that started with this book:
You might have the idea that Dan was a big kid, but that would not be true, because his favourite movie was:
Because of his arms, he had an affinity for, and a huge collection of, pigs. His best friend, also Dan, had a Vietnamese pot belly pig named Hormel Gibson, known as Mel, and my Dan always brought Mel's favourite food, grapes, when he went to visit. The three of them would sit on the front porce discussing important life issues and chowing down on green grapes.
Dan was a huge supporter of the Special Olympics, and helped train a number of teams in the cities in which he lived over the years.
http://www.specialolympics.org/
Dan's heritage was complicated, but he did have First Nations blood running through his veins. He never got to find out exactly which tribe(s), but there was no doubt he had it in his blood, because when he was sick, as opposed to having a nightmare, in his sleep he would speak in a language which was a First Nations dialect. I would turn on one of his First Nations drum cds or tapes and it would help to heal him as he chanted along with it.
Then there was the day that Bo Bice came into our lives. I was turning the channel and heard this voice. We were both immediately captured. Bo was the runner up on American Idol during the fourth season, the year that Carrie Underwood won. He is a long-haired rocker-dude from Alabama.
http://www.bobice.com/
Dan was on dialysis when we started following Bo, and as those of you who have followed Kitsap River's journey know, it is a long and difficult road. Exhaustion and pain are ever present, and many days just getting out of bed isn't possible. From the first week we heard Bo, I learned how to download the audio from his performance and how to burn it to a cd, and every week I would burn a new cd with the tune(s) and the previous performances for Dan. Bo's voice, that music, got Dan through his treatments, one day at a time.
Three days after Idol ended that year, Bo was on Larry King, along with Carrie and the judges. We found out he was going to be on a few days earlier, and I said to Dan, "Hon, you need to call and tell him how much he helped you." Dan thought this was a great idea, so the day of the show we started calling two hours before the show. Dan got sick after a little bit, and went and took a nap, and I continued calling. Then he woke back up and took over again. Finally, with ten minutes left, he got through. When Bo realized what this conversation was all about, his eyes changed. They had an immediate bond, heart to heart, soul to soul.
After the call and the show ended, Dan was on Cloud Nine. He was so excited ! Eventually, he calmed down enough to go and take another nap. I realized that I needed to thank this man who had done so much to help Dan fight for his life. I sat down and wrote and open thank you letter and posted it to a few of Bo's fan web sites, and to his personal band web site. Over the course of the next three days we got over 600 messages from around the world, with love and hugs and prayers, and poetry and songs for Dan. It was overwhelming, Dan kept saying, "what did I ever do to deserve this?" I had always told him he was a hero, but this helped it sink into his bones and heart.
The phone call was on Friday, two days later was six years ago today, Dan's birthday, his 59th. Messages were still pouring in, so he got to hear on his birthday how loved he was by people all around the world.
We continued to be part of the Bo community, and have a wonderful time interacting with all of them. A week later, we got the most amazing emails of our lives. It was a Bo fan on the east coast who was offering Dan her kidney ! It took me an hour to get coherent enough to wake Dan up to tell him, and another hour for us to get coherent enough to form a reply email. We will always treasure that special lady, even though it didn't end up in a transplant. The offer was beyond measure.
A week after the first offer, we got a second amazing email, another woman wanted to donate her kidney to Dan ! She was a complete blood match !
Three days later, June 12th, 2005, Dan had a fatal heart attack.
But here's the thing: He knew how loved he was. He knew how much people wanted to save his life. That is everything.
I still am part of the Bo community. It has been a long and wonderful, and inspiring journey.
Thank you, my dearest darling, for having the guts to turn to me that fateful day and tell me you'd been dreaming about me since I as 17. You changed my life forever. You lit my world on fire. Thank you for the privilege of your love. Thank you for the blessing of sharing your life with me. I can't wait to see you, when the time is right. I love you, always and forever.
So, my friends, in honour of my beloved Dan's birthday, if you would like to honour him, please, I ask that you donate to Netroots for the Troops, NFTT. Because it is Dan's 65th birthday, I would suggest amounts that include 65. Every little bit helps, so 65c, $6.50, $65, $650, $6,500, $65,000 $650,000, $6,500,000.
Thank you,
Thank you with my whole heart.
Thank you,
For Dan,
Heather
Our goal for Netroots for the TroopsTM 2011 is $100,000.0 (cash or in-kind donations)
NFTT's primary function is the purchasing and assembling of Care Packages at Netroots Nation to be mailed to American Military serving in war zones. However, the needs of our military families and veterans at home are also a NFTT priority. As llbear et al. have shown, far too often veterans and their families end up caught between a need and red tape. As we raise funds this year remember that your donation will be helping on multiple levels. Our deployed sons and daughter will know they have not been forgotten. Military families will know that they are not alone. Veterans at home will receive needed help.
We realize that you would like to donate something tangible to go inside the packages that will be mailed to the troops. Unfortunately, accepting in-kind donations from individuals is not practical in terms of storage and handling of the items. We will only be accepting corporate donations or cash from YOU to purchase items for the care packages this year.
Here’s how YOU can help:
1. Please contact TexDem if you know someone who might be helpful in securing the corporate in-kind donations. Just leave him a message through the dkos message system. To help you think of companies who could donate products, see below for a list of potential items. Put your thinking caps on and let us hear from you. It takes time to get through the corporate processes so we need to hear from you ASAP!
2. We are accepting cash from individuals and -beg- ask that you DONATE HERE to contribute to this worthy cause. Your donation will enable us to purchase the things that we are unable to obtain through corporate donations, and will help to pay the costs of shipping them to our troops.
3. Sign up for a diary! Don’t worry---we’ve made it easy for you. We’ve got a template set up, and all you need to do is add a small introduction. You can tell us why you are donating or share a story of someone you know who has served or is serving. You can post some favorite pootie and woozel photos. Or how about some gardening photos? We love them! Recipes? We're ready to cook. A list of the top ten guitarists of all time? We'll listen. An homage to your favorite Sci-Fi/Fantasy writer? (Terry Pratchett is one of mine.) We'll be reading. We want you to have fun while raising money for our troops and their families. Just drop Onomastic/Ono a message through the dkos message system to get the template and on the schedule.
4. Do you know a service member who would like to receive a care package? Email a request to: info@netrootsforthetroops.com before May 31, 2011. Please include all of the following information. Unfortunately we will not be able to process any incomplete requests:
Rank:
Last name:
First name:
APO Address Line 1:
APO Address Line 2:
APO Address Zip:
If you know of a Military Unit that would like to receive care packages please include Unit and contact information by May 15, 2011.
5. Write letters to be included in the packages! If you need some ideas, rbutters wrote an excellent diary with tips on how to write letters to troops and why it’s so important to them.
6. Help us assemble the packages in Minneapolis. It's fun! More information will be forthcoming for those of you who are going to be in Minneapolis and would like to help there.
7. Please consider joining the NFTT FaceBook Group. Invite your FaceBook and non-FaceBook friends.
_________
The goal for 2011 is 600 Care Packages assembled in Minneapolis, that equates to approximately $100,000.00. Again this was decided upon after seeing we could assemble 300 in 45 minutes in Pittsburgh. Those boxes had a retail value of approximately $210.00. The items we'll be sending will be comparable to what was sent last year. However, that list is subject to modification based on suggestions, request and needs. Btw, check out the NFTT website.
The following list contains some of the things we have included in packages. Please let us know if you know someone who might be helpful in securing these corporate in-kind donations. (Please DO NOT send these items yourself! We have no way to accept them. Instead, your cash donation is the very best way to help make this happen on the ground in Minneapolis.)
- Baby wipes
- Mechanix gloves
- LED flashlights
- Gel shoe insoles
- Goop Cleaning Gel
- Powdered energy drinks
- Gel energy food packets
- DVDs and CDs
- Letters to the soldiers
- More suggestions coming soon
The NFTT diaries are a way for the Daily Kos community to support the troops in Afghanistan and Iraq and their families. We send them packages of items they might not otherwise receive through the normal military process but that they find useful. This is a non-political diary. While we understand there are differing views on the wars and the warriors, the site gives plenty of opportunity to express those views elsewhere. Furthermore, we would hope that users do not engage with those that attempt to hijack or otherwise disrupt these diaries.
We appreciate your understanding and support. Thanks!
Netroots For The TroopsTM is a project of Netroots for the Troops, Inc., a Virginia non-profit corporation. Netroots For The TroopsTM raises money for the assembly, mailing and delivery of care packages to American military in war zones, and to provide assistance to military families in the United States. Netroots For The Troops, Inc. is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization.