Annie Shannon

Annie was always Dan's favorite “visit friend”. He knows a lot of transients & drifters scattered across the country, and for a while there he had a decent stable of people who would come to crash with him for the weekend, or vice versa. But Annie was always the most fun. Whether it was drinking whiskey at the Taphouse, playing Super Smash Brothers, making the BEST vegan Mac & Cheez on the planet or watching Troma movies until the sun came up, the weekends that Annie came to visit were always the most exciting. He never really told anyone—including her—how much he looked forward to them, how they would be the undisputed highlight of his month, how “I think I might come down this weekend” became his favorite words in the English language. . . and for years she never told him that she felt the same way. In hindsight, Annie and Dan were in a truly ridiculous state of denial. The common wisdom went like this: so you visit each other on the weekends; take road trips together; email every day; talk on the phone for hours; flirt shamelessly; and you’re “just friends?” One can see why people were skeptical. But that’s the thing—they WERE just friends. They weren’t playing mind games, or getting off on the pent-up sexual tension, or just trying to get in each other’s pants. We were just two people who genuinely enjoyed each other’s company more than anyone else’s, and looked to get as much of that company as they could. That was it. And that simple joy of being together remains the foundation for their relationship to this day. Most people that know them know that life didn't make it easy for them to be together but that once they finally got to have the relationship they always wanted and deserved they have become the definition of happiness, home, love and family.