A "David's" Party

    I went to an unusual event the other day:  A "David’s" Party.   David, the brother of McBride’s retired doctor was coming for his first visit to McBride and so to give him a taste of the community, the doctor organized a party of some of the Davids that lived here.  I, of course, was one of them.

    Having never before been invited to a party attended by just people named David, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it was really enjoyable.  The get-together was held at the local Chinese restaurant, and so as all of the David’s gathered around the table filled with tasty prawns, spicy chicken balls, wings, and other Chinese appetizers, we participated in a lively conversation about being a David, which then expanded into other stories from our lives.

    All of the David’s had unique experiences, the visiting David had been a nurse in a hospital for men with severe psychological symptoms, another was an electrician, one was McBride’s Fire Chief, and the other was a neighbor, who was one of my colleagues when I worked for the BC Forest Service. 

    I told the story about working at Forestry during the time when there were 5 Davids working in our office of 30 or so employees.  I had been the ‘David’ who had worked there the longest.  One day someone came to the front desk of the office and asked our receptionist if he could “speak to David.”

    “Which one?” the receptionist queried.

    “The ‘real’ one.” was the answer she got.

    I was then summoned to the front desk, and it always made me feel good that I was considered “the ‘real’ one.”

    Back in the 1940’s when I was born, ‘David’ was the 7th most popular name a boy.  Time has been hard on the name since then.  Today in 2023, ‘David’ is ranked number 337; just below the name, ‘Fox’.

    I always liked having ‘David’ for a name.  It seemed dignified to me.  I especially liked it asa child, during the 1950‘s, when the Davy Crockett Mania swept through North American boys because of the Walt Disney productions.  I loved wearing the ‘coonskin’ cap my mother had made me from a fur collar taken from one of her old coats, and I felt a close relationship to Davy Crockett because my name too, was David.

    If you haven’t yet had enough of hearing about Davids, here is a song on the subject by the Canadian comedy troupe, “Kids in the Hall”:      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEGCdVADLWY

    View my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca