It’s a long story that started back in 1972, and I’m not going to tell the whole story; but David is the reason I married a Boothby and became a part of the Boothby clan. I married David’s little brother, to be exact.
David and I didn’t get along very well. But his little brother, Donald, loved him. So for that reason, David was occasionally in my life. Not a lot, we distanced ourselves by moving a long state away. But Donald held him in his heart. And David had children. Beautiful children. Paolo and Megan; two brilliant souls that I had the opportunity to get to know; Donald’s beloved nephew and niece. And they loved their father. Well, that makes us family, of course.
And then we lost Donald. David flew out here for Donald’s last few days; the only time he was ever in my house in Seattle. And then David died too. Another family bereft, as if we weren’t bereft already. But in these deaths, there was healing, family bonds rebound, the reality that we were even more precious, as we were now fewer.
But I still didn’t like David, even though now he was our dearly departed.
One day, his daughter indicated she’d like a painting I did of her father, which I gladly gave her. I didn’t think it was a great portrait, so I started looking for another photo of him so I could try and paint him again. One of David’s quirks was that he didn’t like to be photographed. So there weren’t many. And I had the mother lode, all the pictures David’s and Donald’s mother had ever gotten from her kids. Her 5 children who all lived hundreds of miles away; they each sent pictures when they could. Including David. As I searched for a nice picture of David, I found photos of him with baby Paolo, and of him with baby Megan. And I could see without a doubt, that he truly loved these children. Somehow seeing those pictures of an extremely young David loving his baby boy, and a still young David loving his baby girl, it melted a part of my heart, and instead of painting the surly David that I knew too well, I painted the other David, the one that his children knew. And maybe that healed me a little bit.
2 responses to “David”
Great story Mimi! It is especially poignant that I should see this now because earlier today for no reason that I know of (maybe because we had recently driven through Cannon Beach and were doing a little reminiscing) I was recalling the names of the Boothby children. I thought there was another brother besides Mike and Don but could not remember his name. Now I remember you telling me that David had been your boyfriend before Don. Don’t recall ever meeting him but your painting sure captured the Boothby look!
The art is even better in person.