My friend, Dan

Eight years ago today one of my best friends died.

Dan and I started in the same shop at work on the same day. He was twelve years older than me and had already had a career as a professor, while I was direct out of law school. But we shared a love of movies (he turned me on to laserdiscs and then we both became early-adopters of DVD), had similar senses of humor and enjoyed getting away from work. Dan and I went to lunch with another work friend, Marc, twice a week for years. Dan and I, and sometimes Marc, went to a lot of movies together and ate a lot of meals together.

Dan was overweight but had really started working on it in the months before he died. He hired an exercise coach, actually did the exercise, and was taking cholesterol medicine. On Saturday, April 14, during a pickup basketball game with people he didn't know, his heart gave out. I found out when I got to work on Monday. Given the Jewish tradition of a quick funeral, several of us were in Long Island the next day for the funeral. My mom flew out at a moment's notice to watch the kids.

It amazes me that Dan never experienced 9/11, which would have FREAKED HIM OUT, never saw any of the Lord of the Rings movies, never owned an HDTV which he would have loved. I still see movies and think about how Dan would have reacted. And I still smile when there's some subtle, dry joke in a movie and I just know Dan would have laughed.

Marc and I still go out to eat twice a week and often talk about Dan. He was a good guy and I miss him.