When he was around 3 he very seriously, as he usually was, came to me with his big blue eyes and said "Mom, am I a dot?" Me: "Uhhh, what do you mean, "a dot"...Him: "Beau said I'm a dot." Me: "Well you're not a dot." Beau was in school so I couldn't immediately question him but when I did he finally admitted that he told David that he was adopted!
David was the best kid a mom could ask for, not just because he's mine but because he was. The kids and I struggled as I worked 60 and 70 hours a week to keep a roof over our heads...At times I'd pay a sitter to send them to school because I had to start work at 5am...This ended (the sitter thing) when I came home one day from work and learned that she not only DIDN'T walk him across the main street and to school but he went to school in his pajamas! Now, they were karate pajamas so that was a pretty creative way to show off his "black belt'...I fired the sitter, changed my hours at work and took them to school myself...
When they were 6 and 11 we moved into an apartment in Canton Mi...Just the 3 of us...I was so proud of David and Beau, the way they transgressed through the move...I began having problems with Beau about 6 months after we moved in...Those problems took all of my attention away from David...He began to act out too...
Call from school..."Your son was caught burying his homework in the wood chips in front of the school." HA! VERY creative, but not a good place...Then, another call...You need to come see me...(teacher)
He informs me that when the children were asked what they wanted to be when they grew up he said, "a biker and work in a titty bar." Me: "Great, call his father, here's his number."...
He wasn't a bad kid. I jerked him around as I dragged his brother through family counseling, drug programs, group sessions, individual counseling etc. This went on for over 4 years...He never complained, he always wanted to help me and he would do anything to make money...the asshole on the corner gave him a whole quarter to pull all of his weeds! Yeah, THAT didn't happen again and I gave him $5.00...He was about 6 years old...
He really didn't like to go spend the night at other kids houses...He'd go with his pillow and blanket and good intentions but would always come home before bedtime. I knew this so I never made plans to go out...the only people he would actually spend the night with was his grand parents...But I ALWAYS had mothers of other children tell me how well behaved he was and polite...Wait, are you talking about David McQueen? The one who will slam the door in his best friends face screaming, "I TOLD YOU I WASN'T COMING OUT!!!" Yes, David has always been David and I encouraged that...no regrets...
Way back when we were a family of four, we would take the kids to the drive in...I don't remember what we were watching but all of a sudden David falls to the floor in the back seat in a lump...I'm shaking him and freaking out for well over a minute when all of a sudden he just looks up at me and smiles...DAMMIT David! (he was about 3)
From a very young age he would slap himself around in the other room and blame it on his brother so he'd get in trouble...It took me several years to actually catch him at it...Little shit...
Also from about age 3, I would wake up in the middle of the night and find him in front of the TV watching slasher movies, TOTALLY engrossed in them...
He was probably about 4 when my sister in law was leaving my house and screamed from outside, "OMG, Vicki...David is balancing on his stomach out the upstairs window!"
Another time he decided to fix his dresser drawers so he could walk up them and turn on the tv...Yep, dresser on him, tv missed him...
I'd caught him "playing" in the dryer and another time sitting all hunched over in the cat cage with the cat and several kittens...I had a hell of a time getting him out through the small opening...
So, no, he wasn't bad, just curious and intent on giving me a heart attack!
Another time, again at the drive-in, we had taken the kids to see E.T....They both watched so intensly, didn't talk or fight... nice...At the end, David BUSTS out in crocodile tears and gasps, "WHY... did you bring me to see this!" He was mad at me for days...
Call from Jr. High school..."David is laying UNDER the table and won't come out."
Me: "Well, what the fuck do you want ME to do about it, I'm working!" You have to know that I was receiving DAILY calls from his brothers school at work as well...Beaus principle and I were on a first name basis and I even had her home number! (David correct me if I'm wrong) Was it under, or ON the table???
He's a trip my David and always has been...He's so, well...just David...there is no other way to describe him...
And then theres the time he kicked at Beau and his shoe flew off and hit Beau smack in the nose...HARD...made it bleed...My motherly advice was "RUNNNN David!...GIT!!!"
2 years old...shopping with David in the cart...An old lady approaches and says, "what an adorable baby"...Before I could say thank you David says, "Go suck a lemon."
4 years old..waiting in Dr. office in Detroit...Long wait when suddenly David says in his loud and demanding voice, "I can't be in here with all these Ni**ers any more!" Yep, we left and transferred to a suburban office...
In his young years I had him in the Christian School where his aunt taught...She was also his bus driver and of course highly religous...When she got him home, before he got off of the bus she said sweetly, "so David, what is your teachers name?" He hesitated and then slowly replied..."ASSSS-hole!" (age 5)
When we lived in Detroit we had a very large Bovier (dog)...When kids came down our dead end street that David didn't like he'd let him loose and laugh his ass of as he watched the little thugs jump up on cars, screaming like girls...
He's been a good kid, this man of mine...I've never claimed to be a perfect mother, I've made some HUGE mistakes and if I could change them I would...David has had it rougher than many but better than many too, his course of life defined by poverty and family addiction...He has love and compassion, he is the voice of reason when he needs to be and he has the temper of a mad man, but it's over before you know it...
David has always been the SINGLE steady force in my life...We have each others backs, forever and always and no matter
what...Love you Babe and Happy Birthday!
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