David Michael - Yesterday and Today

Today is David's 18th birthday.  It doesn't seem possible that it's been that long since that wonderful day in Tennessee when he was born.  David is an important part of this large family.

And an even more important part of this smaller family.

He was our 7th grandchild and our 5th grandson.

David's been busy growing and changing for the past 18 years.  Here's a glimpse at how he went about it.

 

We've written about David before.  To see his previous posts click on the year:  2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015.  So today we're going to concentrate on David in 2015.

Somehow he's a senior already.  While taking three college level courses in high school, he's managed to continue with all A's and B's.  He's done this while playing football as a defensive end for his highly ranked high school and club volleyball at a very competitive level.  His football season was highlighted by a defensive touchdown on a fumble recovery and he was named First Team All Conference and Second Team All Region.  He was an outside hitter for his club volleyball team and has been recruited by several Division 3 colleges.  And today he was accepted at a private school in Pennsylvania and offered an academic scholarship since Division 3 schools don't do sports scholarships.  This school was a school that he visited over summer and really liked and has been recruiting him for volleyball which is their best sport.

 Yeah they thought they were going to block him.

But you can see it didn't work out for them.  (These shots are  a couple of years old - but you get the picture - he's good!)

Also this year, David became an Eagle Scout. Click on this link to read about his ceremony.   After summer camp he has not been as active in Scouts as he'd like to be because of the demands of school and sports but hopes to be an assistant scout master in the future.

David and his family vacationed in Myrtle Beach for a week in August and in Orlando the week before Christmas.  Then they headed to Gulf Shores for a Christmas/New Year's week with the big family.  When I asked him how he like it, he replied "Oh it was so much fun!  I like how we have our own hangout room downstairs and that's where we do a lot of bonding and catching up".

I asked how he'd be celebrating his birthday and he replied that they have their football banquet tonight and he was going to take cupcakes for the team.   He said he hung out with his friends this past weekend and that he and Jannell had gone to Sweetwater.

The plan is to do his birthday dinner at one of his volleyball tournaments when the whole family is there.  Which is great because David has always been very family oriented.  He's also always been sweet, sensitive, and thoughtful.  He's helpful, understanding, considerate and has a great sense of humor.  In fact, I feel like I could never run out of good words to describe him so I'll leave it that we've always been proud of him and can't wait to see what the future holds for him.  So, David, Happy Birthday from Grandpa and I! We're hoping it's amazing but only half as amazing as the many more to come.