WWDD?

"Go where no one else will go, do what no one else will do."

          --Mary Lyon, Founder, Mount Holyoke College: the nation's
          oldest continuing institution of higher education for women.

This is more than a statement, it is a charge. It is a benediction and a challenge to go forth and do better than those before you.  I've been thinking a lot about this lately, but with a twist.

Go where Dennis would go, do what Dennis would do.

I don't mean to be maudlin. I'm simply stating my feeling that, in missing someone who mattered to us so much, we take up something of his to pass on in some way. There are so many big and small ways to miss someone once they are gone. In the case of Dennis, his blog was a familiar voice in the community.

I still want to click over to see what he's thinking.

This was clear on Wednesday when word "leaked" about Anthony Brown's future running mate. Something about they way everything unfolded just felt odd, incomplete. Dennis' voice was missing from the conversation.

This blog post from Lisa B, Mrs. S  felt so much like a Wordbones post to me. It was like a balm to the wounded soul. Consciously or unconsciously, she captured his simplicity and delight in exploration, the joy in discovery.

I don't want people to remake themselves in Dennis' image. But I do miss so deeply the sort of small stories he loved to shine his light upon. I'm hoping we can find a way to make sure we stop and see those. And share them.

Please come on Tuesday to celebrate Dennis Lane's life. Hear a story, share a story. I don't cry much anymore, but, I probably will. The gift of life is so precious and it makes no sense that we get to go on living and he doesn't. We can't change it but we can allow it to shape our perception of what comes next. We get to choose, and we can choose well.

We'll come together united by the gift that was Dennis, and we'll take away something to share: tomorrow.

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