Integrity is the parent of Trust and having friends that you trust is one of life’s great riches. (Indeed, isn’t a friend, by definition, someone you trust?) Anyway, nearly 30 years ago I met this great Californian, Dan G., at a dealer meeting being held by Commodore Business Machines in New Jersey where their headquarters used to be. I was giving a sales pitch extolling the virtues of my word processing program that Commodore had agreed to market through their dealer network. I used the word “‘fortnight” which every good Englishman will know means two weeks. Dan interrupted me by calling out, “Hey Handover, what’s a fortnight?” The rest of the talk seemed to descend into a very funny expose of all the differences between our two versions of the English language. George Bernard Shaw is attributed as describing the Americans and the English as ‘two nations divided by a common language‘ which seems to me a very apt observation.
Anyway, this is a complete digression to the point of this posting. In my email box this morning is a most beautiful description of Dan coming across Bighorn Sheep. I can do no better than to reproduce it in full.
Is it a gaggle, group, pod, flock? Who cares?
I’ve been hiking in the Coachella Valley Mountains for 5 years now looking for just one of about 80 Bighorn Sheep. No luck. Never. Not once.
This afternoon, at an altitude of 7200″, near the Arkansas River Valley in the Southern Colorado Rockies, on a side road, between steep, rocky cliffs above a clear, mountain stream, Gwendy and I came around a corner and sat stupefied for some seconds.
Scared and running just ahead of us was a female Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep in the middle of the road heading down for water…. We thought at first that it was a genetically modified deer. Yeah, right. It was quite large, but its antlers were more like short antelope horns. Very different from the male.
Within seconds, she figured out it would be much safer if she would just scale a nearly 90 degree rocky hillside. She indeed did that and I knew I was watching something special. I couldn’t get to my iPhone camera in time, so I turned around and got some shots off. I did not know I had 5 females in the standard lens. Without any optical technology on the camera, this was the best I could do….
It was very exciting. Gwendy, with her head out the passenger side window of the jeep, was only 15 feet away as she bounded up the mountain to join her partial flock. Where were all the guys? Gwendy never uttered a sound. She was as transfixed as I was….
Zoom in and you can see the 5th sheep below the ridge-line.
Crazy, humbling and beautiful world!
By Paul Handover p.s. Gwendy mentioned above is Dan’s Golden Retriever
Learning from Dogs 
Good morning Paul. Thank you for sharing such an uplifting story.
I only have one uncle and that is my happy Uncle Dan! I’m Dan’s niece, Jen and related to his wife Cynthia (“Dragon”) who is my dad’s kid sister. I’m an only child and grandchild in my family. I don’t even have a cousin but I can’t complain because Dan is more like a big silly brother to me anyway. Which if I had a brother, as you mentioned to me, I would want him to be like Dan too. He has managed to spoil me to the extreme since I’ve known him. I always looking forward to seeing him and wish I saw him more because just a glance from that man lifts my spirits; not to mention, he’s a hoot! I try never to take advantage but he is a bit addicting, isn’t he? I even want a dog because of him – hahahaha!
Dan has a special knack of being encouraging and an amazing role model to people he is not even aware of. It’s kind of hard not to go to him. For instance, I’ve witnessed him take care of his brother’s son and he simply opened the door for him to afford better opportunities. His nephew is an adult now and doing great but I really feel that Dan played a huge role toward his accomplishments.
Today, as much as those two travel, they still manage take care of everyone they love and are now spoiling my daughter (the newest addition to our family) like crazy. It’s a good life and I love how generous he is to expresses it. Dan is a genuinely great guy and a rare being. I am blessed that he is my uncle.
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Funny to hear you call me kid sister @53 yrs old. Makes me feel young all over again.
What a lovely E-Mail. I couldn’t agree more.
When I first met Dan he had just sold his company to the company that I was working for. Dan stayed on to help launch a new computer. Since I was the Sales manager for the west coast we ended up working with each other. After several trips to accounts I got addicted to Dans sense of humor (even though he got us kicked out of our largest acct.) I could hardly wait to see what he would come up with next. You think he’s funny now, you should have seen him in his wild days.
I fell in love with his sense of humor, but as Dan has changed over the last 25 yrs, I have fallen in love with the love and kindness Dan has for other people. He has grown into a wonderful Man. Irreplaceable.
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Yes, I remember those wild days! (Not saying anything more.)
But here’s what I draw from the comments from you and Jen and that is that emotional integrity is critically important to building and maintaining close relationships. Feels like a topic for another posting!!
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I feel like I need to jump on this band wagon for several reasons. Being Dan’s older sister and the beneficiary of his friendship, leadership and consideration all these years, I must say he is also a person who has learned from dogs.
He is faithful, loyal, helpful, consistent, aware, loves cars, rests when he finds a warm spot, and keeps himself clean.
His integrity is beyond reproach, and he is my best friend. (along with my other brother.)
I thank God for them both every day.
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I wouldn’t know a Bighorn Sheep if I saw one! But loved this tale – and Gwendy choosing a 90 degree angle run. Just gorgeously brave and forward moving.
LIke that George Bernard Shaw saying – never heard it before, but liked it a lot.
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And sometimes, too many times, I really struggle to find the right word in ‘American speak’!
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