Tip-of-the-Hat: Go and enjoy your life. Danny did.

Sometimes it's called making the best of a bad situation, or lemonade from lemons. Sometimes though, the ability to find greatness within extreme tragedy defies our human ability to comprehend. Such is the strength of Mike and Mariann Stanton of Chicago.

The Stantons are young couple blessed with four young children, three boys and a girl, from 8 to 2 years old, and a large extended family. Danny the third in line was special.

Two weeks before Christmas, Danny died suddenly in his sleep.

Danny’s outgoing personality was remarkable to all that knew him. He was “a preschooler wise beyond his years,” according to a family friend. “Danny was a pint-sized neighborhood ambassador.” He loved to help next door neighbor, Betty Lazzara, carry in her groceries. "You were good to go when he smiled at you," she said.

He loved to play sports – soccer, kickball, football – but, was unusually talented for his age in baseball. So much so, that the kids twice his age let him play with their teams. Danny helped them win a championship last summer. "Everyone just sat there thinking, what is going to become of this little boy?" said another admirer.

Danny stood out in his pre-school class, too. On the first day of school, he folded his hands and told his teachers, "I just want to learn." "There was this otherness about him," said Julie Marske, his preschool teacher. "It's like he knows something that we don't."

For the last two years, according to an AP memorial, Danny had occasional seizures always at night, always while sleeping, always frightening. After the first one, he slept in his parents' bed for six months. Doctors did tests, put him on medication, found nothing else wrong and said he might outgrow the problem.

"Danny's day-to-day behavior gave no indication of anything wrong with him," Mike Stanton said. "How many seizures did he have that we did not know about? We checked in on him thousands of times while he was sleeping." When Mike checked in on Danny on that last fateful night, he was already gone. After frantic efforts to revive him failed, his grief stricken dad lay down on the hospital bed. And he tightly hugged his little boy as his body grew colder and colder. "I kind of lost track of time," Stanton said. "I could have laid there with him forever."

Danny loved the outdoors, and in his memory the little pre-school he attended plans to clean up a vacant lot nearby and create “Danny’s Garden” as a permanent memorial and reminder. At his funeral, Rev. Gregory Sakowicz summed up what all were feeling; "Danny got it right. He taught us how to live."

Although they only had Danny for four years, Mike and Mariann have found the ability to focus on the blessing and inspiration their son brought to everyone who knew him. In the brief obituary that appeared in the Chicago Tribune, along with mention of surviving family members, he was also credited as the “Best buddy of the Leona Avenue Kickball Kids.” And, then in profound simplicity, Mike Stanton wrote, “Please go and enjoy your life. Danny did."

The Stantons set a place at their Christmas table for Danny, and they plan to start a foundation to help other parents with children who struggle with night seizures. The foundation will be called “Danny did."

The beautiful honesty, decency, and simplicity of children all too often teach us so-called grown-ups some of life’s biggest lessons. And, somehow those lessons seem to come during the Christmas season as Christians mark the birth of mankind’s Redeemer Child. Drawing on the gentle greatness of Danny, Mike and Mariann Stanton were able to focus on his inspiration rather than their tragic loss and grief. The lessons and legacy of Danny will doubtlessly survive far longer than his short life. May Danny rest in eternal peace, and may God grant his family and friends the comfort and strength.