A Friendship Through the Ages MR. DAN AND LITTLE NORAH
The unusual pair didn’t say goodbye forever at the grocery store. Norah insisted on visiting “Mr. Dan” every week,
In 2016, Dan Peterson, 82, was grocery shopping alone. After his wife passed away six months prior, Dan had fallen into a depression and was, as he put it, “waiting to die” — that is, until he turned a corner in the store and heard a little voice say, “Hi, old person! It’s my birthday today!” The voice belonged to 4-year-old Norah Wood, who was shopping with her mother. Dan was confused by the greeting from the strange child and even more so when little Norah demanded a hug. Unable to say no to such a request, Dan gave the little girl a hug and said, “You don’t know. This is the first time for quite a while that I’ve been this happy.” Norah’s mother, Tara, was utterly amazed by the interaction. “She zeroed in on him like a missile. And she didn’t want anything from him. She just wanted to make him feel loved and give him a hug. And his little lip quivered and he was teared up and it was just sweet.”
deciding that he was her new best friend. Dan spent Thanksgiving Day at the Wood household that following November. Two years later, the pair are still thick as thieves. When Norah graduated preschool this past spring, Dan joined the parents and grandparents in the audience to cheer her on. Dan takes Norah for walks around his vegetable garden and, according to Norah, Mr. Dan is “sweet like a peppermint!” Once, when Dan took a little while to answer his door during a visit, Norah started crying with worry and refused to let go once her friend finally appeared.
It’s a love that proves five generations is nothing when it comes to true friends.
MEET SHADOW: THE AMAZING HANG-GLIDING SERVICE DOG
owner. So, about 12 years ago, McManus
For his entire life, Utah resident Dan McManus has suffered from several mental health issues, including generalized anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, night terrors, and severe panic attacks. Over the years, he’s utilized numerous coping mechanisms to stave off the symptoms, but there are two things that calm him more than anything else: hang gliding across the Utah skies and the companionship of his service animal, an Australian cattle dog named Shadow. Over the course of 37 years, McManus went from being a hang-gliding hobbyist to an expert instructor in Salt Lake City, going out gliding as often as possible. But it seemed that his passion gave his pup a bit of anxiety of his own. Whenever McManus would take off, Shadow always wanted to chase him. “So I would be out here flying, and he would chase me and jump up at me and sometimes get my foot and hang on a little bit … It felt like he wanted to keep me safe,” he says. And when he left the dog at home, he’d often come home to a scratched-up floor and doors. It seemed that Shadow couldn’t bear to be away from his
had a special harness made
Photo credit: Reuters/Jim Urquhart
for Shadow, enabling the pup to join him while he took to the skies. They’ve been side-by-side on nearly every flight since. Some pet owners might balk at the idea of taking a dog on a hang glider, but it’s clear that, in this case, Shadow definitely wants to fly. Whenever they go out, Shadow wraps his paws around McManus’ arm, remaining stoic as they survey the landscape together from high above. While we all struggle with our own obstacles in life, it’s nice to know that our canine pals will always be there to offer their furry support. As McManus and Shadow demonstrate, it’s a bond that remains strong even hundreds of feet above the ground.
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