You know that little nagging feeling of paranoia you sometimes have when someone hasn't texted or called you back as expected? Turns out it sucks when you're right to have been concerned. On Saturday June 6th of last year, I had been texting with my best buddy and he told me that he was planning to take a short ride around town on his new motor scooter. Later that afternoon, I was checking in to ask how his ride went and to tell him about my day, but he never replied. If you know anything about DM and me, you know that we text each other constantly, so not hearing back in a timely manner was actually somewhat of an anomaly. After telling myself, "Calm down, he's fine, stop being such a worrier," later that evening, I was contacted by a Highland Hospital ICU nurse. Turns out a car had blatantly blown through a red light at an intersection in downtown Oakland, plowing into another car as well as DM's scooter. By some miracle of God (and a great helmet), DM somehow managed to avoid any nerve damage, internal, head and/or spinal injuries, but twelve broken ribs, both broken collarbones and a cracked sternum later, didn't exactly walk away unscathed. I booked the first flight I could out to California, and approximately one week after moving to SLC, found myself back in Oakland once again. Fast forward nine months later, and DM and I were back at Kaiser last week, hopefully for the last time for a while, so he could have the metal plate on his right clavicle removed. After his surgery, our friend MS happily declared that DM is now, once again, "All Dan, All Man!" 😊 We owe so, so many thanks to the wonderful nurses, doctors, surgeons and staff at Highland and Kaiser, and to friends and family for their incredibly support in every way possible. I'm sure glad my best friend is still in my life. ♥