Daniel Jameson Death, Obituary – I am, of course, devastated, and there is a void where he used to be, but the spot that I occupied in his life is what I really grieve losing. I was his first niece, and he made room in his heart and his life for me before things got difficult. Before he served in the military, went to college, got married, and had three wonderful grandchildren of his own, as well as three darling children of his own, he had a wonderful life.
That he managed to save that room for me is something for which I will be always thankful. However, he was there with me despite the fact that very few people would ever describe him as goofy or overly sentimental. Out of the blue, he would send me song lyrics via email when I was living in California, which was a long way from my family.
When I was younger, he would color Easter eggs and write short comments on each one before giving them to me. A number of years ago, both my husband and I realized that we had left something behind at our childhood home. Matt went back in my car, Uncle Dan came outside all excited to see me and when he saw it was just Matt, he just scowled and turned around without a word and went back in the house.
It’s not that he had anything against Matt; it’s simply that Matt wasn’t me. He always made me feel like I was special. And he was always special to me. When he had gone to war in Vietnam, everyone was so worried but no one would say anything around me because I was so little. But I knew something and my little 3 year old brain knew something was wrong.
The very first dream I ever remember featured the two of us running down a nightmare switch back hall that kept getting smaller – chased by a large Asian man until we reached the wall. Then as the man raised his crazy big knife, I jumped in front of my uncle, I pulled out a giant ball of Play-dough that I threw at our pursuer who promptly melted and we were saved!
I was so excited that my Uncle Dan was home and. I had that big ball of play-dough and I knew he would play with me for hours and hours if I wanted. I woke up and then was so disappointed that I couldn’t go back to sleep. I remember it like it was yesterday. He was kind, he didn’t suffer fools, was invariable loyal,and whip-smart.
I felt, I feel so very lucky that he was in my life and that I was lucky enough to have someone just exactly like him in my life. I will miss him so very very much.
