Our friend, Dan Palmer

This is a tough business. I get discouraged when it seems that time and again, competition does not bring out the best in people, and then Joe has to remind me to focus on all the good we do see and all the great friends we have made. One such friend is Dan Palmer, dad to our SoBo Style pal, Katie. We actually met Dan the same day we met Katie, more than 10 years ago now, the first time we did the Springfield Antique Market. Over time, our relationship with Dan grew from father of a friend to simply friend. There are many wonderful things we could say about him -- awesome storyteller, seasoned businessman, avid collector, true outdoorsman, vital part of SoBo Style. In fact, there is a wonderful post about him right now on Katie's blog, where she shares many of these things. So we'll just add one more from our own experience. We found that Dan shared his friendship with us more through actions than words. He made us feel welcome whenever we were in town, saving us a parking spot big enough for truck and trailer right out front. He was always there to help us unload each delivery, and reload, when we had our trunk shows. He became a mentor in many ways to Joe, sharing all sorts of tips for making things a little closer to perfect. In fact his relationship with Joe grew to the point that Katie had to put a three story limit on their swapping of tall tales each time we visited! Sadly, our visits with Dan have ended. He passed away suddenly on December 25, just a few days short of his 83rd birthday. Due to a family commitment, I was not able to be in Columbus for the service, but Joe was. And he reported that he'd never seen so many people or so many flowers, surely evidence of all the other lives Dan touched. Many years ago, I heard Emily Dickinson's "If I Can Stop" read at a funeral, and it has stayed with me since. The gist of it is that if you can help even one person during your life, you have not lived in vain. Judging by the outpouring Joe saw in Ohio, we think Dan Palmer's life was certainly well spent. xo