Driving a Cloud

On July 31 Nancy and I lost our 24 year old son David to multi-organ failure of yet undetermined origin. David was the eldest of 7 and a beloved presence in our large family. In life he was quiet and gentle with a heart as big as his body. His sudden death has profoundly changed our lives and lead to an outpouring of grief from the many people our gentle giant touched.

David was close to all his siblings but he had a special bond with his youngest brother "AJ", who was 18 years younger than him. AJ was his shadow and wherever David was AJ was sure to be also. There wasn't anything David would not do for his brother and especially delighted in taking him to the swimming pool, the movies and the park. David was more of a father to AJ than many biological fathers are to their children.

Not long after David died my other sons were discussing going down to the family cabin in the Ozarks to remember their big brother. The "farm" as we call it was David's favorite place on earth. He loved the peace, the solitude and the beauty of our isolated Ozark property. David loved to hunt and trout fish and target shoot, but mostly he loved to be alone there. It was there that he dreamed of opening a gunsmith shop and living. David found joy in nearly everything but it was here that he found complete contentment.

As the boys were discussing the trip AJ said "David is coming with us". The boys looked at him and said with sadness "No he isn't AJ, David is gone" to which AJ answered with certainty, "Yes he is, he'll be driving a cloud".

This blog is dedicated to remembering David and dealing with grief and finding the meaning in the brief life of a beautiful child of God.