The notion "best friend" swiftly becomes somewhat anachronistic after one leaves grade school, as quantifying the significance of one's friends seems a bit gauche. But, in all my life, there was one such "best friend" whose status as same was ironclad and irrevocable. That friend was Danny.
I just learned that my dear childhood friend, Danny Choy, just passed away. Danny was paralyzed after a bike accident in 2011, but fought valiantly in the wake of that, and assuredly never lost his spirit. It was that same spirit that defined him as an irreplaceable friend to me throughout childhood and adolescence.
I've alluded to Danny several times on the blog (he was immortalized as "Rocky" on this post). As a benevolent force of super-nature, Danny almost single-handedly kicked me out of my sheepish doldrums, as a kid, encouraging me time and again to FIGHT BACK! Never one to tolerate any shit, Danny -- who'd weathered considerably greater hardships than I, growing up -- came to a point of self-realization in his life that he was determined to evangelize. He was tireless, buoyant, insightful, unfailingly funny and fiercely loyal.
Our lives took different trajectories after we'd both gotten married and had kids, and I never got to see him again after he moved to Colorado. But as life took us each down our respective paths, and even diverging our sensibilities (Danny leaned much further to the right on most issues, than I), we absolutely never let those differences dilute our friendship. We may have differed on several issues, but we were always friends.
I am absolutely crestfallen that I shall never see, talk to or make him laugh ever again.
God bless, godspeed and thank you for everything, Danny. You are missed more than you know.
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