Daniel Strong and Dawn Wonder Woman

Daniel Bobby Blanchard: JUNE 19, 1974 – SEPTEMBER 22, 2019
Cynthia Dawn Clevenger: February 21, 1974 - January 26, 2022

These two were the embodiment of courage. When Daniel was diagnosed with Mesothelioma he asked the doctor, “What do I do?” The doctor said “live”. Daniel became a marathon runner. He lived with power, and grace. His motto was “Live Life Forward”. Our Cynthia Dawn was our Wonder Woman. So many times she was given bad news, and she faced it with courage and strength. She lived 27 years with autoimmune disease no doctor could really pin a name to. Our family loved to laugh and even in some of her toughest hospital stays we’d all be together cracking jokes. I learned from both of them you don’t know what you can do until you have no other choice but step up and do it. We lost Daniel in 2019 and Dawn this year, 2022. I shouldn’t say lost because they are with us every moment of the day.

I don’t know how to do this grief journey. It is a roller coaster, yet I’m doing it. I want to be Daniel Strong and Dawn Wonder Woman. I let myself feel everything that comes. I want to be honest in the journey. The incredible light and example they’ve given me is such a gift. Today show someone you love them. Show someone kindness. You may be the light someone’s been searching for, the moonlight in their midnight, the sunlight in their storm. Live Life Forward!

Dawn and Daniel

They met on the path of dreams
when life was racing toward eternity.
 
Love, passionate, and bold
drew them into its embrace,
set fire to their smiles,
grew joy where grim thought
it owned the spotlight.
 
Death comes to everyone,
but these souls of light
left way too early.
 
In our garden of grief
they leave signs and wonders.
They are with us…
We now see them in
the joy of unexpected.

©Susie Clevenger 2022


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