Book: Emily Dybwad

I was very lucky to grow up next door to the Dantzkers.  It meant that our households tended to blend together with multiple dinners and desserts in a single night, shared homework tips, and group tv watch on school nights (once we broke the locks our parents had put on the tvs).  It's not an exaggeration that I was over at Alicia's house close to every day of my life.  Steve was a staple in my life who introduced me to many new things: my first big mac (from Micky D's), how to make a bottle rocket and win our 8th grade science contest, the best places for dim sum, and my first IMAX movie experience.  He wasn't just Alicia's dad to me, Steve was part of my support system and foundation.  IMpressing steve with some obscure fact was better than getting an A on a paper (though the two were mutually inclusive, I'm sure).  In each conversation I had with Steve, I learned something new.  He was full of information and it felt to me that he knew everything there was to know.

One of the things I loved most about Steve is that he never excluded people.  A lot of families tend to protect their "family time," but anytime the Dantzkers were doing something (mostly going to see a movie), Steve would include all of us.  It was this inclusive philosophy that always made the Dantzker living room the number one hang out place.  There is nothing that more aptly describes the Dantzker living room that the world's most inclusive fraternity house (the initiation is if you know where the Diet Cokes are).  Alicia described this fraternity-esque situation in her infamous college entrance essay.  Often the scene would be a smattering of Alicia's friends and maybe one or two of Nicky's friends and Lizzy sitting on the couch, arguing about what to watch on tv, and Steve would walk into the room, glance at the situation, remark on the tv program we had decided on, and as quickly as he appeared he was gone.  If we had chosen well, Steve would join us for a few moments while indulging us in a new piece of information about the tv show.  Of course, as the first wave of friends moved on to college, Nick and Lizzy's friends took over for us.  The Dantzkers always had something going on (and sometimes without any of the Dantzkers even being home).

My life was truly enriched because of Steve Dantzker and the entire Dantzker family.  I feel so lucky to have been so close to my next door neighbors.  I am who I am today in party because of the role Steve played in my life.