Citizen Dave

Citizen Dave â A Tribute to the Life and Times of David Joseph Pica © Dr Lou
He was born in a small town, not much different than most in a large country with lofty and obscure goals. He was delivered into the arms of a loving mother and a proud father who were struggling and enjoying the struggle into the world of middle class living. They dressed their boy and brought him to the home of an adoring grandmother and a loving but distant grandfather and they doted on his every need and gazed upon him with eyes that would liken to the revelation of the child himself. He knew love from every corner of his life in the blankets of joy laid on him by his loving aunts and uncles and his complete soul mates in his cousins who believed they had been given a son and a doll to play with in one package. He progressed to the streets of a small row home neighborhood where he learned very quickly to say little and observe a lot and saw the friendships that grew there that would last a lifetime. He went to catholic school where even there his quiet demeanor left him beyond the reaches of real trouble though the occasional bullying and scrape with the other boys would occur without tremendous incident. Each year theyâd all parade through the weeks visiting on Fridays and Sundays and spending the rest of the time reading and playing much as anyone else might imagine. The game of baseball, introduced by his father to him brought him joy that would last his whole life and through that bring him another world of friendship and camaraderie that served to be a trademark of his peace of mind time. In time the family migrated east to another small town within a larger area of the country which at that time was coming through some difficult growing pains itself. It nearly was wiped out, lost a leader and some very influential and potential leaders and languished again in a loss of direction but still somehow offered a happy life to most of its people. He got a present for his birthday at 8 years old in a brother that became as much of a toy and a source of wonder to him as any other gift under the tree. The two formed a bond in spirit that would carry them both through the growing years of their lives and beyond. Once again cast to a different kind of street but with the same level of protocol and demands for respect that heâd found in the other neighborhood, he continued to flourish in sports and did reasonable in school but found more joy in doing some light hunting, fishing, and playing basketball and baseball with his friends on the streets of the little dead end street he called home. In high school he became a staple figure on the baseball team and though the team in general didnât win anything significant while he was there, it didnât take away one ounce of the fire and fury that he put in to every at bat, every ground ball, and every hit that heâd achieved. He made another set of lifelong friends there that he would love like brothers and sisters and once again his meek and mild way of living made him a popular person and one that could be called friend with the comments that he ânever had an unkind word for anyoneâ as his masthead. After high school he like so many others feared the war and the draft that was offering selected people from lower and middle class societies a larger chance to be cast into an undefined conflict but as so many others didnât make it back, he was lucky enough to be the right age to avoid the fate of his brothers with the end of the draft. He pursued college a little but the shining light of freedom and exploration took over and he traveled west as so many others did, not to live but to experience the journey with other lifelong friends. They felt the hardship of life first hand as they sat on their way home on one side of a bridge to cross the river without enough tender in their pockets to pay the dollar toll that was required to use the span. His father once again, with love and sarcasm came across the bridge to collect him and bring him back to his home state. Finding traditional ways a bit difficult he joined the military in the form of the US Navy and spent four years traveling the world while learning skills in management and life as well. This brought him home once again with a direction; to be a diesel mechanic and after school got a job that though he liked, didnât bring the level of living he wanted. At this point he met the love of his life and was able to start a career that once again would bring him joy and friendships that lasted for the next thirty years. In this time he had two sons, one the first grandchild to his family and the two boys became the focus of his life from this point onward. He lived his life with happiness doing everything he could for his new family and supported every dream and goal he could in making their lives as happy as any middle class family could ever have. He spent time coaching sports, helping everyone with every endeavor from homework to family businesses. He gave of himself mercilessly in the pursuit of the happiness of the wife, children, animals, and relatives of his family. He still kept his one joy to himself that gave him time to keep his mind whole and offered him his island of joy albeit not that often in a Sunday ball game, but that was enough to keep him happy and smiling much the same as the little boy born to that loving family so long, long ago. In passing on, in an unfortunate stroke of luck, he left behind a story of a life that stands up as an inspiration to people all over the world in that he found his joy from the inside out, rather than the outside in. This means that he was shown that the love of giving can far outweigh the love of getting, and he found peace in the love that he gave and thus received in the beginning and the end. One final time the young man, was met at the foot of the bridge to a new existence brought on over by his loving Mom and Dad, along with the spirits of those that loved him so dearly, and theyâve traveled to a new home state together, in heaven.