Year after Oso, Dayn Brunner finds comfort in his late sister's horses: 'It's like our link is restored'
Summer Raffo
DARRINGTON, Wash. -- On any given day, when he's missing his sister, Dayn Brunner comes out to her horse pasture to listen.
"Before she could even crawl or walk she was on a horse. She loved it. When you walk out onto a field or pasture this big and have nine horses come up to you, I just wish they could talk. I wish they could say what was on their mind," says Dayn.
It’s not about what's being said out loud, but rather, what he’s hearing in his heart.
"These horses had a connection with Summer that is unprecedented. You could just see in their eyes they miss her, too," says Dayn.
Summer Raffo was driving on State Route 530 the morning of March 22, 2014, when the mountain crumbled.
For five days, Dayn and his 16-year-old son searched, digging through the muck and debris, documenting each grueling day until they finally found her car.
"I grabbed my son and I said, are you ready for this? And he said, ‘Dad I've been ready for five days. Let’s go get her,'" says Dayn.
Using their bare hands, they carefully dug Summer back to the surface.
"I grabbed her hand and the first thing I wanted to tell her was goodbye. Both of us needed that. Both of us needed to have that moment right then to be together, to be there and to have her out of the mud," says Dayn.
One year has passed. The mud has dried. But the tears are still fresh and many emotions remain buried below the surface.
"There's still a hole there. There's still a void there that is never going to be filled," says Dayn.
But in Summer’s pasture, every day is a chance to heal.
"The horses bring comfort in so many unspoken ways that it’s just amazing. She loved the connection that she had with them," says Dayn.
Now it’s Dayn who comes to connect with the creatures Summer loved so dearly.
"She just had a knack about her. She would talk to them. She'd grab their faces and grab their noses and look right into their eyes," says Dayn.
In their eyes he sees her soul.
"Summer worked with these horses so long, so hard, she was the horse whisperer," he recalls.
And in his heart, he hears her whisper.
"They're a direct reflection of her and these horses hold a lot of memories. It’s like our link is restored", says Dayn.