The Greatest Day of Danny's Life - The Story Of Daniel Special Episode

The Greatest Day of Danny's Life

The Story Of Daniel Special Episode

[caption id="attachment_292" align="aligncenter" width="204"] The Father Under The Mission Cross[/caption]

So, I have been intending to write this episode for the longest time but just couldn't seem to get 'round to it. Now, I have. The year was 1981, the place San Diego California. The glorious human beings involved? Rebecca Lynn Segers, the love of my life, the shine in my eyes, the muse of my life and apple of my eye. Daniel Louis Hanning, that would be me. Joseph E. Tilbury, Best Friend, Senior Trip to Colorado Buddy, and Best Man. Last, but certainly not least, Julie Tilbury (though, at that point it was Alf), Best Friend to Becky and Very Close friend to me and Bride’s Maid to Becky. There was Becky’s father, Joe Segers, and her Mother Gale Segers, and a BUNCH of friends/residents of the building that Becky and I managed and lived in off of University and 44^th street in San Diego.

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[caption id="attachment_291" align="aligncenter" width="204"] Becky Wedding Day[/caption]

(Rebecca Lynn Segers About To Become Mrs. Becky Hanning)

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Oh, it was a brilliant time in my life, in Becky’s life, in our life together. IF, when you die, you can pick where you spend the rest of your life? THIS this time, right here, right now this is where I would choose to spend eternity. And, Becky would too. We were so deeply in love, and so deeply tied together. We would spend hour upon hour talking aboutbooks and plays and all forms of literature. This, was a first my dear readers. For the very first time in my life, I was in-love with someone like me. Someone who loved  books and loved to read books and a great afternoon would be snow outside, a fire roaring in the fireplace, a great comfy couch, a couple of big dogs, and a stack of books and each other. All but the two dogs (Becky and I only ever had one dog at a time), and Becky and I had lived that dream, in Colorado.

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[caption id="attachment_293" align="aligncenter" width="203"] Becky and Danny At Dusk @ The Old Mission Cross[/caption]

(With the sun setting to my right, Becky Stands Before Me)

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We had not moved to Colorado, yet, when this picture was taken. I remember this day as if it were yesterday. Joe and Julie had arrived the day before, and spent the night in our apartment in San Diego. Becky’s parents had, surprisingly,showed up for the wedding. Becky’s Mother, simply put, hated me. Becky had graduated summa cum laude from her old sorority @ University of Arkansas and Becky was to follow her footsteps and marry a good doctor or lawyer… like she did… and hated every day of it… and he (I would soon find out) hated his life with his wife (Becky’s Mother). So, the ‘Danny Hating In-Laws’ had arrived in town, just the same afternoon as Joe and Julie and our wedding was on the morrow. To be followed with a trip to the San Diego Zoo, the day after the wedding.

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[caption id="attachment_294" align="aligncenter" width="204"] Proudly Standing With Becky In Front Of Family Firends and God[/caption]

(Me, with Becky Standing Before Me and Our Friends and Family)

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Now, back to the day of the wedding and the single most brilliant day of my life, and Becky’s. The morning started with Joe and Julie, Becky and I all trying to get in and out of the shower before the limo got there to take us to the site. The four of us had done some celebrating the night before, and we were all a little blurry. I remember that I let Becky go before me, so that I ended up being the last person out of the shower and dressed.

The wedding was being done on a shoestring budget. Becky and I were both working, but I had taken some time off to deal with a medical problem that had recently reared its ugly head. (More of that later) Now, the limo was being provided by a nice lady couple upstairs over the laundry room. One of the women worked with a limo service, and managed to get the limo for us to use, free for the day. It wasn’t a new one, and it wasn’t in perfect condition. Regardless, Becky and I were thrilled not to have to drive our beat up car to our wedding.

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[caption id="attachment_295" align="aligncenter" width="204"] Rebecca Lynn Looking Her Finest and Melting My Heart[/caption]

(I Am One Lucky SOB)

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The reception was being held by the nice guys that lived together across from the really nice lady couple. Yes, of this eight unit building, Becky and I were only two of the six straight people living in the building. It was totally cool, it was 1981 and everything was cool! Thing of it was, they were great people. They didn’t have to help us out. They didn’t have to, they wanted too!

They saw a lovely young couple wanting to plan to spend the rest of their lives together, and they genuinely wanted to be a part of the beginning of that union. Becky and I were touched by their generosity and kindness, and it help make that day all that more magical. WE, Becky and I, rode together in the back of the limo together.

As soon as the doors closed, Becky and I flashed on the same first thought;

“This is the first time we have been alone in two days.. How are you?”

Instead of speaking, we both just giggled like schoolchildren and began wondering at our clothes and the inside of the limo. We both were in such a state of grace; we were filled with love and hope for the future. We hold hands, gaze silently into each other’s eyes. Becky had such incredible blue eyes, bright like the sky and deep as the darkest depths of the ocean. In her eyes I saw love. I saw her love for me, and I saw my love for her; they were both intertwined in our hearts and our eyes. At that moment, in that instant, Becky and I were the closest to what either of us had ever been taught or imagined as/was happily in-love with another human being intent on spending a lifetime with, and for.

We talked, in the rear of that limo, of dreams of lifetimes and aspirations of our lives. We shared our fears and mutual trepidation, and we met fates to face them together. We held each other, and watched as the scenery changed and our lives with it. As we pulled into Old Town I turned to Becky and said, in my softest kindest voice;

“Becky, I will never been unfaithful. Fidelity is my motto, to you.” 

For every day, and every hour of every year, of the time I spent with my Becky dear. I kept that pledge, I kept it true.

When we got to the site; and oh what a wonderful site, too. When we got there, everyone had already arrived and the friends and family had positioned themselves around the base of the cross.

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[caption id="attachment_296" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Becky, Joe Segers, Julie Tilbury and the Friends all along behind us[/caption]

(Becky with Joe Behind and Julie Beside Her)

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We were getting married in the most beautiful place Becky and I knew of in San Diego. In San Diego there is the Old Town, where the sity started out at the base of a mission. On the grounds of the mission, and overlooking Mission Bay, is a huge cross. I mean it is a magnificent brick and mortar cross that stands, easily, thirty feet. It is dusk, and the sun is falling rapidly out of the South California sky. We all get into place, and the priest begins the  ceremony with us taking communion. As he holds the sacrament above him, it covers the falling sun. When he breaks the sacrament, the sun bursts through the division and washes over the crowd. An audible gasp ripples through the loved ones gathered.

Have I failed to mention? When we pulled up, I handed a cassette to our friend, the limo driver, and asked her to please play the music qued loud. I had just handed her a tape qued to Beethoven’s ‘Ode To Joy”! As Becky and I are married the single most moving piece of human music plays in the background.

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[caption id="attachment_292" align="aligncenter" width="204"] The Father Under The Mission Cross[/caption]

(The Brick Cross At Mission Bay)

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Something special is happening. It is not an expensive wedding, the way that Becky (and her Mom) had imagined but something magical was happening and everyone was feeling the magic. As the priest spoke the words of the union, he came to Becky to speak her oath. Becky spoke so clearly. Becky spoke without hesitation, and with deep conviction and fidelity. It as moving, not just for me but for everyone gathered. Then it came time for Danny’s oath.

I remember this so clearly, as though it happen just last night. The priest turns to me, and I turn slightly towards him without letting go of Becky’s hands. He finishes and it is time for me to repeat. I turn back, towards Becky, and in my clearest sharpest voice I speak the words of union directly to her heart. I feel a tear begin to form in my left eye, of course, in the eye closest the crowd.

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[caption id="attachment_297" align="aligncenter" width="300"] A Magical Time On A Magical Day With The Woman I Loved[/caption]

(Now Moving Into A New Life As Man And Wife)

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The priest begins the last stanza I am to repeat. I turn away from him, and to Becky. Again, I speak with clarity and force, then I falter. Tears are rolling down my cheeks, and there is a catch in my voice. Here I am, an seasoned actor and I can’t keep my emotion from overtaking me. I go to finish and my voice breaks, not since I was a freshman had my voice broken, yet today it does. I speak the last of my oath of fidelity to Becky and we stand there smiling hugely at each other. As the priest is pronouncing us “Husband and Wife” the crowd breaks out in to spontaneous laughter and applause. And the coral voices of ‘The Ode to Joy’ ring out  behind us! We run away as they throw rice on the four of us, and Becky and I reenter the limo now man and wife.

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[caption id="attachment_299" align="aligncenter" width="300"] A Magical Day, In A Magical Time[/caption]

(Looking At That Image Makes My Heart Ache)

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With each passing week I come to you and share. And, each week I say to you "that was the hardest thing I have ever shared...". Again, the next week I do the same. I have not reached into this place, for nearly a generation. Becky and I divorced, in Colorado, in 1986. Five incredible years of my life I would not trade for twenty. I lived in the most fantastic place, I have been to so far, in America to live. I experienced "White Christmas(s)' and being 'snowed In' with Becky for days with noting... nothing to do. Days and nights of passion and never-ending love. We felt we were tied on a deeper level, our love for books and literature gave us something special.

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[caption id="attachment_315" align="aligncenter" width="300"] A Toast To Seal Two Lives[/caption]

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Well, dear reader, we were right. We did have something special. It was not just special to us, it was not just 'Once in a Life Time' this was a love that came not often in life. We saw the world through same eyes, and knew the other's thoughts without speaking. Then, it all changed.

Thank you for your generosity and kindness!  

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="220"] Daniel's Moving Assistance Fund[/caption]

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what are you doing, looking down here???

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Daniel