Dani

I recently lost a dear friend to lung cancer. I had known Dani for at least 30 years. She was my hairdresser when I was growing up in CA; in fact, she was still regularly cutting my father's hair until a few months ago. Dani will always hold a special place in my heart. When I was in the throes of my rebellious high school phase, I told her I wanted to dye my long hair magenta. Dani was immediately on-board. She grinned devilishly and said "Let's do it!" I will always remember walking through the front door of my house and greeting my father with my shocking magenta hair. Thankfully, he was very cool about it. After the pink hair came the bleached blonde, Annie Lenox haircut. Once again, Dani did her magic and I was transformed.

After many years without contact, we reconnected via email. I was going through my cancer treatments and Dani had just recently started hers. Her cancer was already at stage 4 and spreading, yet she would write me the sweetest emails full of compliments and encouragement. Fortunately, I got to visit her about three months before she died. I know she was scared but she always managed to sound positive, putting up a brave front despite being in terrible pain. When she emailed me to say her final goodbye, she wrote about how blessed her life had been and how happy she was that I was doing well. Her words reduced me to a wailing, blubbery mess... just ask Mr. Pincushion. I will always treasure that last email. Dani was a wonderful woman with a heart of gold until the very end.