My Uncle Den has been in my life from the beginning. He is in all of my earliest memories as someone I adored. Our birthdays are five days apart, so we celebrated many together -- always with a picture taken by Auntie Carol! I am so grateful I got to celebrate his last birthday with him a few weeks ago. Whenever we talked in the past two years, he would hold my hand and tell me how much he loved and misses my dad. He talked to dad often in the last years of dad's life. In our last visit he talked of construction jobs they did together and how well they worked together figuring out how to do a challenging job just right. He was very proud of their work! He never missed an opportunity to tell me how much he loved me. I will miss our visits and the stories he always told me of family times long ago. His laugh was contagious and his smile was so bright. So, so many great memories of growing up with my Uncle Den in my life. I will miss him until we meet again.