Very few people, I find, are unassuming and able to have fun. In the world, as it stands now, we are encouraged to be self-aggrandizing, self-promoting, self-absorbed. There really is not a lot of incentive to be humble. It doesn’t get you far.

I lament this from time to time and, when I do, my thoughts often turn to my best friend, Dannie, now dead from AIDS for well over 20 years.

He was an incredible man who could be in the company of any group of people of any persuasion and be a hit. His enthusiasm and humor were unprecedented. He was a great improvisational comedian and dancer. His repartee was unparalleled. He was handsome without thinking of himself as such. (The best and most attractive kind of handsome in my book.) He enriched the lives of all those he encountered and was liked and loved by many. He cared for people as a profession and as a vocation. He gave his all to all he did.

To me, Dannie was, and always will be, the patron saint of a life well-lived. He bequeathed his bright spirit to all of his friends. We are still trying to live up to it.