Farewell, Dean Barnett

"As I grew sicker, I had what for me was an extremely comforting insight. I came to view serious and progressive illness as an ever constricting circle with oneself at the center. The interior of the circle represents the contents of one’s life. As the circle gets smaller, things that were inside get forced out. Some of these things are dearly missed; others that were once thought precious get forced to the exterior and turn out to go surprisingly unlamented.

"At the innermost point of the circle are the things that really matter: family, faith, love. These things stay with you until the day you die. At the very end, because the circle has shrunk down to its center, they’re all you have left. But as we approach that end, we finally realize that all along, they were what mattered most. As a consequence, life often remains beautiful and worthwhile right up until the end."

Farewell, Dean.

You lived a life that was beautiful and worthwhile right up until the end.

UPDATE: Hugh Hewitt, Bill Kristol, Ed Morrisey and Allahpundit, Mark Steyn, Jim Geraghty, Michelle Malkin, Gateway Pundit, Iowahawk, Ace of Spades, Jim Treacher, John Podhoretz, Peter Robinson, Kathryn Jean Lopez, Jennifer Rubin, Ed Driscoll, Paul Mirengoff and John Hinderaker, Baseball Crank, Stop the ACLU, Jon (at Exurban League), Glenn Reynolds, Sister Toldjah, Flap, Neo-Neocon, Dirty Harry's Place, Dan Lamothe, Matt Lewis, Protein Wisdom, Katie Favazza, Wizbang, IMAO, Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler, John McCormack, Sean Hackbarth, W. James Antle III, Flopping Aces, Little Green Footballs, Roger L. Simon, Meryl Yourish, Stephen Green (Vodkapundit), Bookworm, Vanderleun, TF Boggs, Andrew Sullivan and Patrick Ruffini all offer their goodbyes. Even Markos Moultisas found a kind word for Dean: "I may not like many of you guys on the Right, but Dean was a class act and someone who was a true online friend. I'll miss him terribly." Boston Globe obit is here.

And now Mitt Romney.