Super Dave

"Super Dave!" Jon, Dave's brother, shouted it down the hall at Benson high school.
Dave was a freshmen peon entering high school and Jon was a Senior with status.
There are many names a boy can give his brother. Pest. Loser. But Jon chose to call Dave super, and his friends followed suit.

I thought about this in the last 24 hours. I thought about it on Tuesday night when I told Dave I needed a new dryer. The heating element had been dying a slow death, but it was officially, legally, dead.
Dave looked up at me, a stack of book work on his lap, and said, "Let me see if I can fix it for you."
He set his work aside, looked up the problem on the Internet, and fixed the dryer.

The next night, he came home early to tackle that book work, and after making some headway, went out with the kids and raked leaves and helped Grant mow the lawn.

After we got the kids to bed he wanted to help me can applesauce. 14 quarts of applesauce. 45 pounds of apples. So I watched as he peeled and peeled and peeled, and on the second pot, it happened. Guinevere went into labor (our cat).

We stayed up all night and delivered kittens. At one point we dozed off and Dave jumped up and yelled, "We've got kittens!"
 She had two in a row and left them to die in their birthing sacs. Before I could even sit up Dave had the sacs ripped off. "You take that one, I'll take this one."
I rubbed the little lifeless thing a few times and it started breathing, gasping in air. Dave's was still limp.
"It's dead Dave, it's dead!" He spoke to it, urging it to life, rubbing it again and again with the towel. Long minutes later it sucked in air and spewed out fluid from it's nose and mouth. It lived.

I watched this man who does everything with such vigor. I thought about the tree house he built in the yard that has two stories and 3 skylights and four windows. I thought about sending him to the store for ice cream and him coming home with 19 half gallons. I thought about him dancing with me in the kitchen and laughing with me in the leaves. I thought about him reaching out to others in prayer and his generous spirit that is never done giving.

Once again, I'm reminded that our words echo. Jon named his brother, and the name still shouts down the halls of his life.
So this husband of mine in a 24 hour period, put my needs first, taught his kids to care for our home, helped me store up food, and doggedly willed life into a kitten.
Yes, he was named well.