When David became a junior in high school, he already had enough credits to graduate but the school would not allow him to do so because he needed economics and government, in which they only allowed seniors to enroll. So school became a challenge for David to escape from. Senior students, however, were allowed to participate in OJT and most of that group left the school at noon. When they left at noon David decided he would just leave also. He always said to get away with something, do it openly. On the first day of school, a teacher typically passed a seating chart for everyone to sign. David did not sign the sheet of paper, but instead, passed it on. His seat was left blank as if no one was setting there. The next day he left with the seniors to "OJT". This went on for more than six weeks.

And then, the inevitable....a female came into the picture. It seems the school received a long distance call from Germany. It was--tah dah, boom boom... for David Dove.
 
Since it was from Germany, and, it was the United States Air Force calling, they made a decision to break the rules and let David take the call.  They rang "his scheduled class." The teacher insisted he was not in the class. Then the teacher insisted that he was not absent, he was not in the class. After a short discussion, the school secretary took a message from the long-distance caller.


It seemed a girl had been visiting her grandmother in Michigan for the previous summer, but her family lived in Germany where the father was a colonel? in the military, She was inviting her summer love (David) to join her family for Christmas in  Germany. Her father was giving her that visit and the transportation as her gift (or so I remember it).


Gift be damned, David's father was really mad about the six weeks or so missed afternoons from school. Did I fail to mention David's father was the district's superintendent of schools? What an embarrassment for him! He yelled and ranted and, of course, a trip to Germany was out of the picture. (Sorry Sweetie, it wasn't you, David's Dad would not allow the visit)


The call seemed a harbinger of things to come. Every time there was a big deal in David's life, it inevitably involved a female. Some things were good, some were bad. All certainly were memorable.  


Ah, David, I do wish you could have gone to Germany, but you did deserve the punishment. And you were always willing to take the correct blame for whatever you were involved in.The incident left me with a big "what-if?"        


          

David was about 9 1/2   years older than his brother Wesley. He was very protective of his baby brother. Then the teen years struck David, and he was about 14 and very attentive about his "looks", spending a lot of time hogging the bathroom. One morning he became irritated with Wes. He called him a "little perv" because Wes  was staring at him. So, I found other things for  the four-year-old to do.

However, the next morning the same thing happened, and I scolded Wes for bothering his brother. Wes insisted he was only interested in watching David's toothbrushing routine. It seemed reasonable to me, and I was busy, so I made them agree to allow Wes to watch Dave brush his teeth, and then I made Wes promise to afterwards  leave his brother alone.

Wes snickered and held his black cocker spaniel,El Zorro, close.. David had asked me to buy a dog for then three- year -old Wes (Remember how much David loved dogs?) David smilled hugely and began to brush his teeth in theatrical, dramatic exagerattion.


And then, the little brother's shining big moment came. He announced he had brushed Zorro's teeth with David's toothbrush because David had given away Wes' Glowing Baby Beans, a little bean filled doll that glowed when you squeezed it.. Dave thought it sissy for a boy to have a doll, but Wes wasn't yet  ready to give it up.


The sound of retching was very clear from the bathroom. And so was the sound of the  trash can's mechanical thump as it closed tightly after David deposited his toothbrush in it. Dave insisted it wasn't true that his little brother had bested him, but I did notice a new respect between  them.

No, they didn't magically and perfectly "get-along" but I know there were some great brother moments between them.(Even a few that they do not know I was aware of.)           

A message from Dave:
(This was on his funeral card and it came from something he once said to me.) 

I always said my life was full. . .

good family, good friends,

good dogs, good food, fast vehicles,

 and many good times.

I’ve known love’s touch and

love does not die. . .

People do.

And now that all that is

left of me is love . . .

                                                 .Give me away

David was quite athletic. He and an older childhood friend, Buddy Harmon, played on the same Little League team.It was a practice to choose an All-Star team to play at the local county fair against other town teams. Frequently the older boys were the ones chosen, but occasionally a younger boy showed enough promise to be part of the team. The coaches chose the team from each of the 12 or so team's roster. David Dove was among the first choices. His cousin Kenny, although he was in his last year of baseball, had never been chosen and his father was also the coach. What a disappointment for them! 

David, after being chosen approached his coach,( Kenny's father) and said, "It should be Ken's turn, not mine. I give my spot to him." When Ken showed up in uniform, everyone knew David had backed out, and many were mad at him as their team lost the big County Fair playoff, and most thought the combination David/Buddy( pitcher/catcher) duo could easily walk away with the game.
 I was both disappointed for him and so proud I about burst--yet, it was a bittersweet moment.
David, you were so much smarter and generous than me. I wonder if others even knew why you gave up that coveted spot on a Little League ball field so long ago? 

Michigan fog can be very, very dense and even when you are familar with an area, it still looks different in a fog haze.

One early morning about 3 AM, David and his cousin Rick were coming home after a long evening at a local pub. (Yes, that means they both were over the legal driving limit for alcohol, probably at twice the limit.)  It had been a fun evening for both of them and the fog had crept in unannounced.

We had lived in the same farmhouse for all but 3 of David's growing up years. Rick also had been to our home many, many times and was very familar with the area.

They got as far as Brown Road off Quincy Ray Road, and became confused. They turned around and retraced that mile, then turned around and retraced the same area. A corner meadow had peacefully grown bare there, now it was graced by an old barn. In fact, it was a familar barn belonging on the Young farm. Howeverl the Young barn did not set on a corner, certainly not this corner, as it rested for a hundred years east on Brown Road near Phillip Road, but not even on a corner.

Dave got out of the truck and examined the barn three times and declared it a mystery, for he knew the barn, and he knew the Brown Road corner and the two did not belong together,(This was not a small shed, but a large cow-milking barn with hay storage places.)

The two climbed back into the old pick-up and drove down Brown Road,The Young farm did not look correct either and the two declared themselves lost.

They continued on Brown to Phillip and then onto our Haight Road; but the corner barn remained a mystery until the next day. (They finally arrived home about 5:30 AM, for a half hour's drive had turned into 2 "1/2 hours drive.) 

It seems some of the local Amish had purchased the Young barn from the Widow Young.They placed it on log rollers and moved it down Brown Road. They had to stop because of power lines across Quincy Ray Road. They rested the barn of the corner meadow until the power company could assist in holding up the lines so the "too tall" structure could pass under them.

It was a family hoot for the two who could not find their way home because of a "misplaced"  barn.

    A young black female cat found her way to my backdoor. Almost anything that comes my way I feed, but I was not in the mood for cats or anything else.
     She persisted in talking to me,  and so, I bought a bag of kiity-chow. Before long it  was obvious she would soon produce babies.
     She became the mother of four all black identical babies. We left them alone under the barn. It became apparent to my grandsons where they were. Thebabies, from the beginning, were calm and not feisty at all.Just unbelievably sweet and pure. 

     I watched them wrestle and play among our trees. All of a sudden, I rememered that David was our local humane society, all on his own. Every dumped animal, baby or full grown, eventually found a home through his efforts. A friend at his funeral commented on how he and Dave one morning pulled wet drowning kitties out of a drain pipe and by late afternoon they all had homes.


    Thank you David, for these 4 sweet reminders of you. I am going to find them extra good homes for you. I believe I will keep Momma Cat( that is her new name.)

*****{This is a March 2017 addition to this story. A lady came into the your store that your father continues to keep open. To keep the story short, she said that 17 years ago, you talked her into taking home a young kitty. They moved it several places, even to Tennessee. She said the old girl was still living and they had just moved back to Michigan. You found a perfect, loving home for that little fur ball.}.       

It was a very cold day and a bitter Michigan wind blew hard.

.
After an early morning appointment, David and I decided to have breakfast at a small local diner before returning to work .


We ordered omelettes, hash browns, toast and coffee.
We were enjoying our coffee when a sad looking cold man walked in. Dave stood up and asked him to join us. The man refused and sat down at the counter and ordered coffee.  This obviously was bothering David.


When our food arrived, David quietly asked the waitress to make two more omelettes and to  package them to go. She brought them to the table and Dave stuffed a twenty dollar bill in one. 


After eating, Dave approached the man with The Vietnam Veteran  baseball cap still perched on the bar stool. He said, "Hey friend, can you do me a favor? The waitress made us too much food, and since it is paid for, can you take mine? I am stuffed." The man lit up with a smile that grew even brighter when David said, "And thank you for your service to our country." 


I  felt the nudge of Dave's elbow and I realized he wanted me to offer my package  also. And I did.

When we reached our car,David said, "He will eat today and tomorrow on those and it is so cold to be hungry."

While not thought of as very religious because he did not attend church services,nonetheless, this was what David said next, "You know, it is said Christ comes to us  in distressing disguises."

David had sensed the man's hunger, and responded in a way that left the man with some dignity. Feeding the hungry and caring  for the soul seemsed very Christlike to me.     


    
  

I see the turkeys in the store and I can hardly stand it. David is gone and we are going to have Thanksgiving--for what? I know he would be the first to say go on withour me and enjoy every minute of life, but people who say that have no idea how hard it is to be left behind, to be slammed with an unbearable bittersweet memory  of an event that will never be the same again.

I am not sure any longer that I want to be the person left behind. I want my life back---the one I had-- not the one I now have.


We miss you, Son. Do you miss us where you are?   

We are a family that truly enjoys a family meal.

David, after leaving home, would always bring someone who that year had no place to go. At first I did not appreciate this gesture, after all, I was the one doing the work, but it continued. We made many family friends this way.


David loved roasted turkey, the white meat.

His favorite dessert was not the typical  pumpkin pie, but cherry pie, Mom- made version.


Stuffing was another favorite part  of the meal for David.

I know we have much to be thankful for, but I miss my son so much, I have no idea how to approach the upcoming holiday season.

We will always love you, David. Why did you have to go?    



    

David was always the prankster. On Halloween, one year, he put out slices of dried-out white bread with a fake fly on several of them. He also put plastic cups of water on a tray. As he handed it to one of our young neighbors, the boy looked at it, then solemnly dumped a cup of water into his bag. Dave felt so bad that the prank was just a little too old for the child; got him a fresh trick-or-treat bag and gave him gobs of candy bars for being such a good sport. (The boy, now a father of several, talked about how much he cared for David.)


Another Halloween Prank by David comes to mind. A beat-up Cadillac Hearse, faithfully chugging as it missed every fourth or fifth stroke, backed up into my front entrance. It was "manned" by two skeletons dressed in ripped tattered three piece suits. They jumped out and beckoned me to enter by hand signals. The mufflerless vehicle drowned out my convulsed laughter. Only the next day did I find out who my  caller really was.