David A.

My nephew, David A. had an interesting Father’s Day. His brother, Danny, secretly entered David’s name in a local radio station contest about dads. Danny described how successful David is as a single father, raising his daughter, Brittany, from babyhood to a high school senior. The radio station selected David along with several other fathers to sing the National Anthem at the Dodgers game on Father’s day.

David is a ‘go getter’. As a 4 year old, he started several businesses that earned him money for hamburgers at a nearby McDonalds. He picked radishes from his mother’s garden and sold them for a penny apiece. His ‘territory’ was the street he lived on which was a semi cul-de-sac that circled a small park at one end, with a large thoroughfare at the other.

One lovely summer morning, my parents picked up David and brought him to my house for a little visit. I set up a card table in the living room with a cloth and napkins and served the four of us milk and cookies. While we chatted, David showed us some stones he had picked up from the driveway that he planned to sell. He asked if we would like to buy any. They were various prices; some 3 cents, but most were a nickel. It was a big decision to choose which were the prettiest, but I finally chose three and paid him the money. We were still having cookies when I picked up one of my stones, walked over to the window and looked at it in the light. I called Dad over to the window and asked him if he thought the stone was ‘A GENUINE’... After Dad looked at it from all sides, he said, yes, it was definitely a GENUINE. David had been quietly observing this and when Dad agreed with me, David said, “That one should have been a dime!”

When David was 4, he went to the park every day and played ball with the little leaguers. One day he had his picture in the paper. He was photographed in a batting stance ready to hit a fast ball. David collected several newspaper copies of his picture from neighbors, then went up and down the street offering to autograph it for a quarter.

When David wanted a hamburger and didn’t have enough money to buy one, he’s sit down with his crayons and draw pictures to sell door to door. He had several customers who bought regularly from him so he enjoyed lots of treats from McDonalds.

David has a day job, but he also plays guitar with a group. They play gigs on weekends and for fund raising events. His band often entertains when his daughter, Brittany invites friends for a weekend bar-b-queue.