07/28/2026
This is Daniel. He was very special to me. He was a decorated Air Force veteran, a helicopter pilot, and 100% disabled. All he wanted was to get into a home so his family would be proud of him.
Every once in a while, someone comes into your life and changes your perspective on what really matters. Daniel did that for me.
We started off on the wrong foot. Anyone who knows me knows I don’t take any guff. I’m a “tell it like it is” kind of person. Well, so was Daniel.
Once we were able to sit down and talk, I realized he wasn’t being difficult. He needed help with his paperwork because of his disabilities, but he was simply too embarrassed to ask.
For the next two months, I worked with him every step of the way. It was one hell of an adventure. The government was shut down, and we needed records from his ID.me account, which he had been locked out of. Somehow, we made it through. Along the way, we became friends, and he trusted me completely.
On the day of closing, Daniel ended up in the hospital. At his request, everyone involved shifted their schedules so we could bring the closing to him. It was important to him to finally own his home.
Daniel moved into his home just a few days after this picture was taken.
Thirty-six hours later, he died.
I found him. 💔😢
The hardest part was that neither of his family members was able to come to Colorado. They lived across the country and simply couldn’t make the trip to handle everything. So I volunteered.
I cleaned out his house, donated most of his belongings, and spent countless hours searching through every box and every piece of paper to find the things his family wanted. They asked for his military records and his jewelry—that was all. Because he hadn’t unpacked yet, I had to go through every single box.
That’s a very intimate way to get to know someone.
I learned things I never expected to know. I saw the paperwork from countless hospital visits related to his disabilities. I found love letters to the people who meant the most to him. I came across deeply personal things that I will never share, but they helped me understand the man behind the struggles.
I’m not a nosy person. But when you’re searching every single box and every single document for military records, you inevitably read things that were never meant for your eyes.
In the end, I realized the two things that mattered most to Daniel were having a home of his own… and his two little dogs.
I found a wonderful home for one of them.
The other one found a home with me.
I think Daniel would have liked that.
