January 20th, 2011 by Conor

I’m one of those folk who has indeed been, “affected and touched” not only by Danny, but Conor as well. I admit to selfishly reading the entries on a daily basis as it helps me feel connected to what’s going on across the country. But as Conor wrote on the Home page, “it’s selfish just to read on this site”, so it’s my turn to throw my hat in the ring and add at least two cents worth of rhetoric.

First a few descriptors about Conor… strong, true, loyal, creative, an incredible editor of video clips, funny- did I already say strong and loyal? Well, take that to the nth power (whatever that may be). This site, along with Danny, is truly, “THE BOMB”! Thank you Conor!

Yes indeed, it was Thanksgiving of 2005 as Elisabeth wrote (see entry on January 8th), that Danny and Conor entered my life. I however, did not experience any trepidation about meeting them; I just made the (positive) assumption that they both would be very cool. I suspect however that David (aka Potterman) might have had some concerns; after all he had already met and interacted with my “spawn”, and knew what they were all about. The fact that David didn’t leave here twitching after his first dinner here with Seth and myself during the summer of 2005, is a testament to his stamina and resilience, and yes, for those of you who have read Elisabeth’s entry, her description of Thanksgiving dinner, as with most family dinners here was/is more than accurate. Dinners here are replete with all sorts of conversation, the content of which, most of it anyway, can be termed ‘politically incorrect’. The positive reframe is that these dinners are also incredibly funny, and the food is usually extraordinary as well. As far as the post-dinner game of, “Asshole”, in recent years that’s been replaced with “Apples To Apples”- no hairy, nasty dog biscuits involved- just loss of ‘face’. i don’t know which is worse.

Back to Danny..if it wasn’t for Danny, I wouldn’t be part of 21st century technology. Despite the fact that David and I had long gone our separate ways, Danny stopped by one day to say hello, took one look at my new laptop and decided that I should be on facebook. Now, for any of you reading this that know me, you are aware that I’m still working on the on/off switch, (I still don’t have a cell phone) therefore the prospect of participating on facebook was daunting to me. Danny took charge, set me up, also showed me how to negotiate photo-booth, and itunes, and voila, here I am. I will be ever grateful to you Danny for that.

Over many other Thanksgivings, as well as a few birthday dinners (in March and May- Conor and Danny respectively) and other various and sundry events, I have indelible images of both Danny and Conor; Danny sitting on the couch, crochet hook in hand, whipping up chapeau creations worthy of a runway, Conor sitting on the couch, laptop on lap (where else?), wheezing away from Freddy (the very overweight house cat) wanting to cuddle up to him, Danny laughing at…well, that’s a story that might be too politically incorrect to write about, so I won’t. Say “thank you” Conor.

Watching Danny competing on the slopes at Killington was also a joy, especially watching him count all his well deserved prize money.
And of course following the Shreddytimes youtubes was (still is) exhilarating for me. Watching Danny ‘do his thing’, being adeptly filmed by Conor, made every move Danny made look so easy. His passion is palpable in all the videos.

Some Danny descriptors…STRONG, true, loyal, creative (hmmm- sound familiar?), an incredibly talented, fluid, determined, proud athlete. And let’s not forget ‘cute’! Uh, I guess ‘hot’ fits as well.

To rephrase one of my sayings, “the bad news is the good news”; Danny is aware of what’s going on, perhaps not fully yet, but his reactions of sadness, frustration, confusion are all appropriate. Danny is a fighter; he will be victorious.

Love to you Danny.

Ellen Terie