Snippets from the Dust: June 2020

David means Beloved

Daring

Egg Salad: While living in the Fairways at Washington State, some of the neighbors would take turns driving out of town to pick up flats of fresh eggs for the group. Because it was their family's turn, David's dad volunteered to take three children in a little blue Volkswagen bug, for a quick outing, including the eggs. on the way home, when his father realized that he had forgotten a birthday, stopping to pick up a card, he left the children and the eggs--just for a minute! Four flats of eggs were in the front seat. Curious, bored children in the back made it to the front to see what would happen if the eggs came out of the flats. Out they came. From the flats and from their shells. "Dad got back in, drove quickly home, unloaded the kids, swatted bottoms, salvage the unbroken eggs, [and proceeded to remove yolks and whites from blues,] before delivering the shorter supply of eggs to the neighbors."

Kitchen Crunch: Being the second of three children in diapers, David's mom would make a trip every morning to the clothes line. No matter how fast she hurried, the task took time. One morning, when she returned to the house, the two older children had put on their over boots. After dumping four full boxes of cold cereal from the pantry shelf, they had a royal parade with a captive audience baby sister, watching and cheering from the crib. They crunched Cheerios and Wheaties through the kitchen, carpeting the living room, the bedroom, on to the sofa and behind the stove. This was not enough. There must be something else. Some thawing hamburger made it down from the counter to be scattered through the crunchy creation. This was their happy greeting to their Mom upon her return from the clothesline chore. Christmas brought a new dryer from Grandparents Gee. (How did they know??)

Note: this was in December 1961, which means that littlest sister could not have helped!

Flood in the Fairway: Laurene and Mom would walk to the corner to meet David and sister each day as they returned from school.

The "Three Musketeers"

The Three Musketeers would then race home together to the Fairway unit on the next corner. One day, when Mom stopped to visit with a friend, the kids found some mud in front of the friends' house. Mom encouraged them to hurry home to wash. Hurry they did, and wash they did. When their Mom arrived home, the children had turned the bathroom faucet to full blast, flooding the bathroom, the living room, and the kitchen.

The children splashed with glee, before being locked outside while their mother mopped up three buckets of water and aired out the house. A caring neighbor brought a toothpick mop as a reminder of the joy brought by creative, busy, adventurous children.

It was really their fault!

Everyone should have a brother to help dream up childhood adventures!

From basketball to cliff diving, from banishing bugs to harmonizing with Lida Jones and Good Night Ladies--
David would ever be content when leading the willing and unflinching!

Apt

He started the race to be an Eagle Scout early...look at the rewards!

He finished high school a year early with a 4.0. And taught us the joy of "Marijka" stories from his mission to the Netherlands

From the day of double exposures, the image to me represents something I am now learning-- that missionaries affect lives of the living and those gone before!

Valuable
At age two, at a doctor's checkup, David was approached by the doctor in attempt to break the ice and make friends by asking about his family, "Do you have any sisters?"

David: "Yes, I have two!"

Doctor: "Do you have any brothers?
David: "No, but my sisters do!"

Intelligent

Devoted (to our family and to his own)

(We count Megan as one of his "apt"est choices!)

(Better watch when David challenges you to Scrabble!)

Megan's two cents: "I would say on the devoted, he is a good friend, especially to those who need extra love, including Marvin Bartel, Chris Howlett, Bob Krulish, Shauna Berge. He has really been there for these people and many others, as well as his cousin Clark.

Was this the infamous Wyoming Petrolane truck?

He is a devoted letter writer to his missionary daughter, writing to her every week. He is a devoted worker, never turning down the extra assignment of a legal presentation!

David is a devoted father, son #2 with a youth group on a humanitarian mission to Peru...finding time for one on one, [even with those may be a bit harder to reach.] He is a devoted groomer of son #1--every morning he showers with Sam to help him get ready for school.

Happy Birthday to a young man who could just as easily invite neighbors to play Lamanites and Nephites in the "vacant lot" tree house as give life to an Old Testament story of 1 Samuel 5 and the Ark of the Testimony...

A Dad, who in stride with drawn-out daily delivery of "counsel," would just as soon teach early morning Seminary as sleep...

A brother, helping siblings remember life lessons from a still-avid father who has gone a'fishing.

Thank you for teaching us to treasure the words of life, and for living them,
For helping us to see our lives as an adventure, and locate a bit of meaning therein!
A big P.S. comes in shepherding nieces, nephews, and their little flocks: