His eyes were the color of a clear blue sky.  His smile would make you go weak in the knees.  His hair was dirty blond and curly.  And his laugh was so infectious that no matter where you were or what you were doing, when you heard it, you laughed too.

We met in Pennsylvania at a summer camp run by the Muscular Dystrophy Association.  It was my first year there and his second.  He was so friendly and out going and always seemed to be in the middle of a crowd of campers and counselors alike.  He could always be heard to yell, “come on everyone – we’re off on an adventure!” and off he would go followed by everyone within earshot.

He introduced himself to me at lunch on the first day and we became fast friends.  He told me his name was Dave but his friends called him Davey. “So”, he said with a brilliant smile and wink “Davey it is, right?”  Before the end of the week, he would ask me to marry him.  I knew it was not meant to be, though.  You see, Davey was only seven years old and he had Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.  He had spent the last three years in a wheelchair as his body progressively grew weaker. 

I would learn later that Davey didn’t just have M.D. but he also had very weak lungs due to damage that had occurred when he was born.  As MD progresses it causes muscular weakness and skeletal deformities that contribute to frequent breathing disorders– when you add that to already weakened lungs, your life expectancy is dramatically decreased.  Davey knew this.  At seven he already knew he didn’t have a lot of time so he choice to make the most of the time he had – hence – “come on everyone – we’re off on an adventure” was his philosophy and it never wavered.  He would be one of the first up and the last to fall asleep each day.  He would try and cram more adventures into one day then most people try to in a life time.  

Camp flew by and on the last day Davey introduced me (and the other three counselors he proposed to that week.  ) to his mom.  We exchanged addresses and promised to keep in touch.  And we did.  I’d send cards and care packages.  He would send drawings with a note at the bottom of each one showing the count down of how many days were left until he would be back at camp. 

 He wouldn’t return for a third year though.  I found out two weeks before camp was to begin that Davey had passed away.  He had developed pneumonia.  His little body was just not strong enough to fight it off this time.  He passed away surrounded by his family and his pictures of summer camp.  He was off again on another adventure … this time, we couldn’t follow along. 

Choices.  We all have them.  We can choose to give in to our daily struggles or we can choose to stand tall and fight our way through them.  We can choose to reach out to one another or we can choose to turn our backs.  We can choose to only see what is wrong with our lives or we can look at all the things we are blessed with.  We can choose to live each day and go looking for adventures or we can allow each day to just pass us by...   

...I say – COME ON EVERYONE – WE’RE OFF ON AN ADVENTURE!