Happy Birthday, David

Today is David's 15th birthday.  Many thoughts run through my head when I think about that.  First of all I muse about the fact that David is our 7th grandchild and 4th grandson so how in the world could he be 15 years old already!  But the most prominent is what a wonderful person he is!

I did a short phone interview with David a little while ago.  Here's how that went.

How do you feel about turning 15?  It feels pretty good.

Do you have any special goals for the upcoming year?  I guess I'd like to play varsity basketball next year even though I'll be a sophomore.  I think that would be really fun.
 

If you had to decide your future right now, what would you aspire to be?  I probably would like to be a meteorologist like one of the weather people who chase storms and watch hurricanes come in.
 

What do you like best about school?  I like hanging out with my friends and I like gym class.  Gym is really fun this year because we're doing p90x and yoga things which are really challenging.   Really, yoga?  Yeah, yoga's really hard to do which I never thought it could be.

What's your favorite sport and if you could be a pro athlete some day, what would you be?  My favorite sport is basketball and if I could be a professional basketball center, I think it would be awesome and a lot of fun.

Are there any special gifts you're hoping for? No, not really.  I guess I'd like to have a rowing machine like I see other guys on when I go to Saturday basketball practice.  The machines have weights that you pull against with your arms and push against with your feet and they tell how far you gone - kind of like a treadmill but you're rowing.
 
What your favorite aspect of Christmas week?  (This is the week when our entire family gets together between Christmas and New Year's in a rented house or two near the Lake Michigan beach.)  Hanging out with my cousins all the time because it's really fun.  And also, the New Year's Eve party where we always have that really good food.  That's really awesome.

How do you like being the oldest in the family and do you feel it places more responsibility on you?  It's pretty fun because the rest of my siblings look up to me and I can usually tell them what to do and they'll do it for me.  And I especially feel a sense of responsibility when it's just Zachary and me at home.

 What's your favorite subject in school?  History.  Right now we're learning about Greeks and Romans and I think that's a really cool time in history.  I saw the movie 300 and it's a really awesome movie about that time in history.
 
Is there anything else you can tell us about yourself that I didn't cover?  Not really.  I do plan to start weight lifting in the Spring and Summer, not only to get in better shape, but to help me be a better basketball player.  And I'm still deciding whether or not to play football in the Fall because varsity basketball has stuff in the Fall also.

  

And that was the end of the interview.  I'm not sure how well it came through but David is one of the nicest, sweetest people I know.  And when, I put that at the top of the comments, it's saying a lot because he's also an excellent student and athlete.  Truly, he'd give you the shirt off his back....or the rock from the woods behind his house to add to my koi pond.


And, of course, I have to add that he's fun and loving to all his cousins - not just the other big guys.  Here is is participating in a dance, gangnam style, with Grant and some of his younger cousins at the beach house on New Year's Eve.
 
In conclusion, we're wishing David a Happy 15th Birthday and a wonderful year ahead.   We love you David and we couldn't be more proud of you.