Reflecting on a Special Day

When you think back on that day, what did Derek do or say

that really stands out

in your mind and made it special?

Thinking back to that day, um,

I remember sitting on the Troy Tower,

and you came up and sat next to me,

and you immediately started teasing me about my hat.

You said, "We gotta get her a new hat.

We gotta get a new hat."

Sorry, you said, "We can't get her a new hat.

This one's too iconic," you said.

Immediately, um,

you just made me feel at ease, and I remember just talking about anything

and

everything and anything that kind of came through my mind

that day. Um, and you just made it so comfortable and,

um,

I remember just feeling normal for a day, which

was hard to do. The odds were stacked against me that day, but

I remember just, uh, taking a minute and just having normal conversations,

um, and just feeling like a kid. And, uh, having the opportunity to reflect

twenty-five years n-now looking back, I don't know

how you were able to do that. I don't, I don't know, um,

I don't know how you managed to make somebody feel just so special, so

normal, um, and just

like a kid, like I was supposed to feel at the time.

So that didn't really answer the question.

You did.