Mary’s David

By Mary Turney

Whenever I think of David I think of his laughter, joy at life, generosity and willingness to please whomever he’s with. What an amazing reputation he built up for himself.  Booker T. Washington said it all – “Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.” That’s my brother, David, successful.

One of my fondest memories of David, that hints at the essence of the man I love, was when we were little. David had to walk around with crutches and his foot in a sling for a year (?) and it was my job to take his lunch and backpack to his bus stop at the corner for him each morning.  At some point along the way we decided to see who could get to the corner faster, so we raced, each of us running all out.  You can guess who won, and who laughed with complete joy at his accomplishment.   Me?  I was just annoyed. So he laughed at me, too.  We raced again the next day, and again, the next, till it became the expected way to get to the corner, for the rest of the school year.  And each time he won, he laughed, because even though I had lots of excuses for why he kept winning, he knew he could be successful at doing things even though he had a handicap. It took me a while, but eventually, even I was laughing right along with him.

 And through all the years since, we had fun together, laughing and enjoying each other’s company and reveling in the successes each of us accomplished in this journey of adventures we call life. He was a good friend.