Daniel Todd Nance Tribute

A LETTER TO DANIEL

Hey Buddy,

We just want you to know you are a shining star in the sky for so many people. You brighten days with your smile and your jokes. In fact, you would probably be enjoying this letter a lot more if it were narrated by Yoda or Elmo, but we don’t have your knack for impersonations. We hope those who love you can capture and hold onto one ray of the light you bring into our lives.

Watching you grow up has been an amazing experience. You have changed from a ragamuffin fresh from a dirt-clod war into a handsome young man who can look us in the eye and say what you mean and mean what you say. But we know the boy inside has never left because you still love to play: on the baseball diamond, on the football field or in a good-ol’ country mud fight. By the way, we hear you don’t always play fair in those.

Thank you for being such a caring member of our family. You are at ease saying you love us, giving us encouragement or a hug, or offering a shoulder to cry on. You always ask us how we are doing because you genuinely want to find out. You offer a soothing touch to your mom, or words of hope to your dad. You are great at being “Uncle Daniel” — if they had the strength, your nieces, nephews and cousins would shoulder you around town on a carriage like the emperor.

And thank you for bringing Madie and her family into our lives. We can see how much they mean to you and how special they are. We just haven’t figured out why they enjoy, as much as we do, the ornery harassment you give to those you love.

It has made us proud to see you become a leader of young men, to see you walk into that fourth-quarter huddle with the confidence of a champion. You have always been a winner to us no matter what the scoreboard showed. We know you don’t want sports to define you, but we are handing you another game ball, and sending you in for another quarter in a place we hope you notice the applause is just for you.

We love you, Daniel,

Your family.

(By Joshua Beach, read during the funeral for Daniel Todd Nance in June 2005.)