Dear Danni,

So here it is that life has come full circle and I find myself living in this old house with a girl and her big friendly dog. I never would have dreamed that things would have turned out this way just a few months ago when I first learned your story.  I thought at the time I first heard of you that I was a harbinger.  That I had come to usher in something new to your friends life.  A sign of a new beginning, a person brought in by fate, or by God to initiate a change. I thought I was supposed to help to heal after your loss.  But I was wrong about that.  It was my life that changed.  I was mistaken now I know.  Not about harbingers in peoples lives.  I really do think they exist.  But the harbinger was you Danielle.  You started a chain reaction that brought your friends into my life.  Then my life changed and continues to be changing.  Your story was the part of the wave that sticks up out of the water while the real forces from your life were working beneath the surface of the sea, beneath the surface of my relationships with your friends, making changes in my life.

Today I sit in my own bed, your blanket is now my comforter.  I sleep alone here and I no longer wonder why I write you; why I write someone who can not read my letters.  It's because these letters are not for you.  These are letters written about you, intended for those who wish to hear of your life.  These letters address the issue of a life, how it is lived, celebrated, reveled, and eventually lost; only to be picked up again by others and carried on.  These letters are about the echo of life left after we all go.  These letters are about your presence that remained and how it is being  incorporated into those who live on.  Those who love you, those who hear of you, those whose lives are imitations of yours, we've all been changed by you Danni.  We all carry your message, say your little sayings, wonder about what you would think.  In us you live now. We're sad you're gone, but grateful for your being here.   

Love,

Russ