Daniel: The One Who Got Away

Life is great! Isn’t it? …Or, it can be made to be great, made to be beautiful. You can do it, if you have to. All it takes is work, will and some money. And a vision too, of course. Daniel had built a beautiful life for himself. A great life within his own business, a fine restaurant, with wonderful food, work, plans…just pouring himself out in the midst of it, pouring himself out for everyone. Everything was just the way he wanted it, now. Grandmother had been there, naturally, undergirding him always with her financial backing and personal strength. And so life was great, with just a few minor undercurrents of difficulty, until…a thing Daniel couldn’t control happened. He couldn’t control it, couldn’t stop it, and couldn’t understand it. His well- constructed life was coming apart. He was coming apart and then suddenly there was only one thing to do…escape. Out on a tiny island in the Pacific Northwest he could get away. There was a house on a cliff overlooking the sea. There was a shack on the beach below too. He could calm down there, live simply and pull things back together. He wasn’t completely alone, Henry, his big dog was there with him and a few wild creatures nearby too. In a few weeks he would be O.K. He could get back again to life as he had built it. Except…that’s not what happened. Something better happened.