April Twenty-Fourth

Thirty-five years ago, a young mother spent several hours trying to push a 10 lb baby out of her body but that baby wouldn't tuck his chin. Stubbornly, he kept his head in an impossible position. Birth would be by his terms. Finally, at the last hour, the baby tucked and was pushed into taking his first breath of air. Ever since, he has had to do things his own way, taking his own time.

So the story goes.


Today is David's birthday. Thirty-five years. This is how we spent the day:

Keeping with a tradition we started last year, we enjoyed cake for breakfast.



David unwrapped presents his presents and Raycito said Dad should be mad because all he got was clothes. Notice the custom decorated wrapping paper.

Mmmmm. Better - Than - YouKnowWhat - Cake!

While David and Raycito went off to The Scooter Lounge, Lou and Little D had soccer games.

There was a lot of running and bumping

and hand-stands during the game.

Little D is a great little hustler on the field.


After soccer, the whole fam-damily joined Dave at the shop to work/play Wii. Who would have thought that Dave would open up his own business and that when other rip-off shops would close their doors and go out of business, this shop would still stand? The reason we are still in business when others have gone to the crapper is David. He is the life-blood. No one in the state knows what he knows about vintage and modern scooters. And it isn't just his knowledge about scooters that keeps our doors open. It is also his way of working with customers so they feel well taken care of. I took a few shots of the shop to show it off because nothing --except for his family-- represents Dave more than the labor of his own hands. Here is the front of the store. David made the sign on the building.

Directly passing through the front door you see our front desk and Brigham's Bees perks.


Turning your head to the left is vintage memorabilia, helmets and used scooters.


In our show-room is a rainbow of scooters.


The back of the shop is where all the magic happens. I always knew David was a mechanical genius and lately I get to see him work his skills over and over.


Here is out the back door. These are scooters that are being worked on. Our service department is thriving.

The upstairs of our shop had a mountainous pile of parts that had accumulated. Yesterday David and I sorted and de-junked until midnight...

Lambretta parts, Vespa parts, Stella parts, engines, etc. etc. etc.


Then David spent his birthday afternoon building shelves out of old scooter pallets (reduce, reuse, recycle). That probably wasn't the funnest way to celebrate 35 years of life, but it was satisfying. I wish I had a picture of that junk pile before we worked on it.


Later we went to The Bombay House for dinner. We had a huge group ready to roast Dave.




Among many stories that were told, we learned that David stood in a toilet with his shoes on and a big grin, read poetry in whitie-tighties, punched the lights out of anyone that picked on his brother, danced cheesy choreographed dances with his sister, sings and dances like Elvis, punctured a water bed and tried to plug it with his toe, and had a kidney that really sucked. He can fix anything and he shares his talent with family and friends continually. He is loved and appreciated not only for his talents (which are many) but also his kind-hearted good nature. Even though he has to be the one to decide when to tuck his head, he is dear and beloved.

Happy 35th Birthday David!