Blog 245 – 03.08.2016

Today I am re-posting the blog I wrote for my first son, David Jerome Heyen. He will be moved from the hospital to hospice care this morning and is not expected to linger here much longer. Thank you to all my friends and readers who commented on a Facebook piece I posted yesterday about him. I did not intend to make you sad I only intended to inform you that David was passing. I will miss him but honestly I am encouraged that he will soon be happier and healthier than he has been for sometime. David has not had the most pleasant journey and has experienced more than his share of bumps in the road along the way but he leaves five wonderful children and countless friends and family members here who love him so much. David loved pretty women, imagine that, I am sure I don’t know where that comes from. And he married two of them. I posted this picture of Chef and two lovely Dallas Cowboy Cheer Leaders with the original birthday post last year. I remember thinking that he did not look well even in the picture but did not know at the time that by summer’s end he would be battling cancer as his baby sister did three years prior. David’s battle has been longer and even more horrific than hers but “joy comes in the morning.” The wonderful hospice people will ease him of his pain and make is final days on this good earth as easy as possible. Please do not grieve for David or me or the multitude who will miss him greatly. Though perhaps not the dream others might choose David has had a wonderful life and leaves those of us who knew and loved him many beautiful memories to cherish till we see him again in a brighter, better country.

David’s other Dad.

Blog 39 – 5.29.15

Today is the birthday of my oldest son, David. He was born a year before I graduated high school. I did not actually meet him till he was almost twelve. He and his brother, Ben, became my sons when I married their mother about a year after meeting them. I actually loved the boys before I ever got to know their mother.

I met David working with the bus ministry of a church in a suburb of Houston, Texas
called Spring Branch. He impressed me immediately as a bright and personable young man. He had already more responsibilities than many grown men ever carry and in many ways missed out on his childhood. Often when that happens the rest of one’s life or at least a large portion of it is spent trying to recapture a missed childhood. I identified with that Peter Pan side of my son. I heard the sentiment expressed in a song by Jimmy Buffett called Growing Older But Not Up. Frank Sinatra sang a song in the nineteen fifties that was the only non country song I ever heard my dad sing, Young At Heart.

My son, David, is young at heart, and I love him and wish him all the best on his birthday and everyday. I tried while his mother and I were married to adopt David and his brother and give them my last name. We were going to have David James White, II put on David’s new birth certificate and even bought him a nice leather Bible with that embossed in gold on the cover. Due to a problem with legal issues the adoption never took place but I shall always think of David and Ben as my first sons. They never got to know my other son, Jon. nor he they. But that’s another story.

Today is David’s day and I want to honor him. He is a professional chef and his mother even calls him Chef. Too many David(s) in the family to keep straight I guess. But you can never have to many David(s) or too many beloved sons. Some people believe that God only had one beloved son, begotten or recognized son. But I think we are all his sons and joint heirs with Jesus, you too, Ladies.

As I am proud of my sons God is proud of his and cheers our every success and urges us to get up and give it another go every time we slip and fall. David Jerome Heyen, have a wonderful birthday, Son, and know that I am forever grateful that in this life I got to be your dad, your friend, and your devoted fan.

Your Fellow Traveler,
David White