Daniel Brennan

You know how I love joking. All joking aside. What I truly love about this is getting to tell you all how I feel about you after I'm gone or at least appear to be gone. I firmly believe that I'm still here with you. It's just that you can't see me anymore.

First of all, I want you all to know how much you mean to me. Each and every one of you has had a positive impact on my life even though we may not have gotten along at every moment. And to my wife Marie and kids Danlyn, Lisa, Zach, you were and are everything to me. There are no words to express what you brought to my life, and I'm so grateful to have had each of you. I was one very lucky guy. You were the sun, the moon, and all the planets and stars. I promise to watch over you forever. And when it's your time to Join me, I will welcome you with heavenly kisses and hugs. I know my illness put you through a lot, but I'm amazed by how you handled it all with such grace. As you walk through your days without me there physically, just know that I'm still supporting you and loving you no matter what. Do I wish I could have stayed around to meet my grandchildren? Sure. But I will know them from afar, and I will watch over them, too. I'm also grateful that I had a chance to say goodbye to everyone while I was still with you physically. That was an enormous blessing. All of you who visited me, I want you to know it meant SO much. And you didn't get a chance to visit me, that's perfectly okay. I can feel your love, and I appreciate it more than you know. I want to say thank you to everyone for making my last weeks and days so peaceful and truly beautiful in many ways. While it was painful to say goodbye, it was also so profound and spiritual and sacred. I've never experienced anything else like it, and it seems fitting that my last experience in a body would be so expansive, mind-opening, and heart-opening. As for regrets, I've had a few, as the song lyric said. I regret losing my temper, not reaching out as often as I could have, not telling people I loved them as much as I should have. As most of you know, I could be really stubborn, and I had a temper. Sometimes, I was unyielding, and I could be unforgiving at times, too. I regret wasting time with pride and lack of forgiveness. If I'm going to offer you any advice, it would be to put your ego aside and just love everything and everyone as much as you can. It would be to enjoy every moment you can to the fullest. In the midst of whatever brings you pain, don't forget to notice all the beauty that exists. There's a lot of it if you just look. I have also regretted not doing some of the things I always wanted to do. But from my perspective now, as I sit and write this in my last days, what I didn't do no longer matters much. From this vantage point, I really did live a full life, and my bucket list is complete. All of my previous com- plaints are in the past. I let them go like little balloons in the sky. Besides, what I did get to do was a lot. I got to have a career that went beyond what I ever thought I'd accomplish. And I got to travel to some beautiful places. I got to express myself through my music and I got to appreciate the art that others created.All of that was wonderful. But nothing compares to the extradinary family I got to be part of and all the moments I got to spend with the people in my life. That's what Im carrying with me the most.When I was young, I dreamed of wealth, greatness, and fame, but now see that as foolish. really isn't about the what; it's about the who. And in that regard, I have been wealthy beyond measure. I hope you'll remember me as someone who tried to be a good person and who loved deeply. Someone who often fell short but came to a place of peace and acknowledgment that love is all that matters. So, I guess my final word has to be thank you to each of you. Picture me standing in front of you, one at a time, telling you how much I appreciate you. Picture me standing in front of you whenever it crosses your mind, reminding you not to give up, to remember you're loved, and to remember to love. I'll close with a quote from Win-nie-the-Pooh: "If there ever comes a day when we can't be together, keep me in your heart. I'll stay there forever. "I love you all"