The Thinker

Dan at Zion National Parks

This is how I remember Dan. Almost a part of the earth. Apart from other people but together with the world. As I look at this picture I can almost hear his mind whirring. Thinking thoughts that you and I would never dream of thinking. He thought about the world and how it worked. Not in terms of physics but in terms of the emotional, the logical, the words that explained the things he saw and heard.

He would tell me about these experiences. Of the times that he would sit and think. Maybe you could call it meditation but it was far more active than that. He actively would chase down a thought. Follow it through its permutations until it hit its own illogical or impractical end. Then he would be off on the next thought.

To think that the special brain that was Dan exploded within him somehow makes sense. Kind of like driving a car when the oil is too high. Or the electrical system is giving off too much energy. Maybe there was a genetic flaw, like an electrical short, that caused his brain to bleed into the one area that he treasured and used the most. The area of communication and thought.

This picture, sent by his granddaughter, Kilisha, gives me great peace. I see Dan at peace. Thinking.