When I was a 10-year-old boy, and I was supposed to be playing back in my bedroom, my mom, Nancy, didn’t freak out when she walked by and couldn’t see me. She knew I was under my bed drafting the latest edition of Snoozy News, a handwritten newspaper published in pencil-lead black and vibrant Crayola colors on two sides of wide-ruled spiral-bound notebook paper. Armed with a fourth-grade vocabulary and an immeasurable imagination, I was creating the next literary masterpiece that would take the world of 338 West 7th Street in Monticello, Iowa, by storm.
Dream big, Danny. Dream big.
But these were my dreams. My visions. I’m not sure what sparked them, but they were mine. My older brother, Mark, was the athlete, I was the creator, and my younger sister, Dawn, was, well, Dawn was a little sister who just wanted to be included. When it came time to deliver the inaugural edition, I remember waiting patiently for my dad, Roger, to come home from work so he and Mom could pore through this hot-off-the-presses page flipper (remember it was only two sides of wide-ruled spiral-bound notebook paper) together so they could sit in sheer awe of their second son. Yeah. I called that one right. Awe. Struck.
I’m realizing now, some 41 years later, for as great of a reporter and publisher as I thought I was, Rog and Nance were equally as talented in their acting skills. They likely saw right through my pint-sized plagiaristic tendencies as I stripped my lead story straight from the Des Moines Register from two days ago. But they saw the amount of work I put into my original article about what we had for supper the night before, a hilarious comic about a little boy (an autobiographical sketch of sorts), and an original jumble puzzle, and they doused me in copious amounts of parental praise and encouragement. And so it began. My need to share stories and create with words. Snoozy News became a regular publication at 338 West 7th Street for the next three months, set to come out once each week on Monday so I’d beat the Monticello Express (which came out on Wednesdays). I realize three months isn’t a long time for us grown-ups, but to a 10-year-old, it’s an eternity. I grew a lot as a reporter and publisher during that quarter of a year. I started drafting all-original copy, duplicated a copy of two editions for my Grandma Otten, and even explored the feasibility of creating a new publication for my West 7th Street neighbors and selling it to them for a dime. Alas, flag football, Atari Pac-Man, and my crush on my classmate Tara distracted my news sense.
But my drive to create with words has never waned.
Through much reflection, prayer, and contemplation, I have realized that my vocation is to use my written and spoken words to motivate, encourage, and inspire others. I have done this throughout my life, whether it was co-creating the Monticello High School newsletter The Paw Print, serving as the sports editor for the Wartburg Trumpet, or excelling as a professional reporter and marketing content creator. This all ties into what I previously had declared in my original Golden Circle Assignment for this class, that my “why” is to, “make the people and situations I interact with better than when I first encounter them” (p. 4).
This is what I am doing with my vocation: using my written and spoken words to realize my why. I am convinced none of this would have come to fruition had I not made it through two of the most challenging experiences in my life: going through the devastation of my family dealing with my Grandma Otten’s onset of and life with Alzheimer’s disease beginning in 1991, and my diagnosis with having multiple sclerosis in 2000 and dealing with it each day thereafter. Both experiences were crushing in their own right. Seeing how my grandma slowly disappeared cognitively and emotionally and how my mom was left to cope with the pain of grandma’s decline with only her husband and three children. Through this, I turned to my writing to ease my pain. There were plenty of personal essays that nobody saw, but there was one rare poem that I shared with my mom, and she consequently shared with the regional Alzheimer’s support network because, as she said it, “people are in pain, and they need to read something like this to find comfort.”
Fair enough, Nance. Fair enough.
From out of the blue in the fall of 1999—after inexplicable numbness in my hands, chest, and feet led me to the doctor and a series of tests throughout the final three months of the year—the radiology report indicated that the cause of my symptoms “most likely is multiple sclerosis.” My neurologist confirmed on Valentine’s Day 2000 that I indeed had MS, a chronic, progressive disease of the central nervous system for which there is no cure. Damn you, MS. What was I going to do and how was I going to move forward with my life? I mean, I was only 27 years old. So, I started writing about MS, what it was doing to me, and what I was doing to keep moving forward and make the most of my life in spite of this disease. Plenty of personal essays that I learned I shouldn’t keep to myself. As my mom once told me in relation to the poem about my grandma, “people are in pain, and they need to read something like this to find comfort.”
During my undergraduate education at Wartburg College, it was noted that authors should take notice and write about what they know. Trust me, I know a lot about MS. This disease has offered me a platform for my writing, and it also opened the door to meeting my wife, Jennifer. She also is living with MS, and we truly are the best of friends and total partners in crime in writing and speaking to help others boldly move forward despite MS. You ask what I enjoy doing that brings out the best in me, without skipping a beat I can tell you that it’s spending time with Jennifer and living our best life together as a couple taking on MS. We often say that MS doesn’t define us; rather, we are redefining what MS can be. With Jennifer, I get a sense of fulfillment writing for our blog and MS-related websites; hosting our podcast; advocating in Lansing, Michigan, or Washington, D.C.; serving as keynote speakers at major events; and presenting to college classes and community organizations. These are the places I feel most comfortable with sharing my insights and perspectives as I fully feel I am living my vocation and realizing my why.
References
Digmann, D. (2023). Golden circle assignment: What is your why? LDR 505: Leadership of mind, body, spirit.