One summer day when we were little, we were playing outside at our house on Ash Street. David usually never played with me, but for some reason that day, he asked if I wanted to play football with him. I didn’t really know how to play, but I said yes anyway. We were running around when he tackled me, and I fell hard. I didn’t realize it at the time, but my neck bone had popped out, which made my shoulder and arm hurt badly. My dad had to take me to the ER. It turned out to be an expensive bill, and my dad was so mad at David.

As punishment, my dad made David hold my arm and walk me around the dining table a few times each day. He also had to help feed me. Thinking back now, I can’t help but laugh at those memories.

I also remember when David first started working, no matter how much he got paid, whether it was $29, $47, or $121, he would always take me out to eat. We’d drive to Jin Jin in Richfield in his little blue Honda, and he’d buy us each a combo. That was just the kind of brother he was always thoughtful, always with a big heart. I think about him every single day.

Man, I have so many good and funny memories with David. One that's always stuck with me goes back to Covid. When we were sitting at home with nothing better to do, he introduced me to a bunch of new games. We spent hours playing Stardew Valley together. It cracked me up watching him run around town messing with the villagers. His farm put mine to shame though, but he always kept my farm stocked with goodies so my little place could keep running smoothly. That was just him, always helping out when I was running low or I didn't know what to do so I could still have fun. I think David's farming obsession was real. He was so into it, that back in the early days of Facebook, he created multiple fake Facebook accounts just to rack up extra coins for his farm, lol. Honestly, his old accounts might still be around. 

Later, he introduced me to Spiritfarer. He let me play it on his Steam account, saying he thought it was the type of cozy game I'd love. He was right! I loved playing it, but I've always been slow to finish games. I take my time because I hate to see the end of a good game (looking at you, RDR2). With Spiritfarer, that hit me harder as I couldn't bring myself to complete it until almost a year after David passed. Deep down, I think I knew what it would mean. 

When I finally did, it felt like I was Stella, and my last task was to guide David through the Everdoor (the afterlife). It broke me honestly, but it also gave me a sense of closure... I should sue Thunder Lotus for creating such an emotionally wrecking game! But at the same time, I'll always treasure it. Because in a way, that was my last voyage with David. And it's one I'll carry with me forever.

I remember something short that I always found funny with David. With every new game I played, either solo or together, he would basically write an entire essay of just tips and cool things he had either found or researched. I'd be playing and he would message me just paragraphs of information, and in my head I was like "god dayum". If it were a game he played and he saw me on it, I already knew he was going to message me that day lol.

Every memory I have with David is full of laughter and joy. He always kept our hearts light with jokes we never really understood but still cracked up at anyway. We’d hang out weekly, usually through games, and it was always the highlight of the weekend because of how much fun we had.

I’ll never forget the time we spent hours taking care of our avatars in Ark—making sure they were fed and alive—while completely forgetting to feed ourselves in real life. We could also always count on David to give us cheat codes for our games.

There was never a dull moment with him. If there’s a next life, I hope we get to pick up right where we left off—playing games and laughing together.

I remember back in 2002 or so, Dave had just taught us how to use Limewire. When he first showed it to us, he asked me what song I wanted to search for and I was so excited, I shouted "can you get me the intro song for Yu-Gi-Oh?!?!"

He gave me a funny look but he still walked me through how to "obtain" it. I remember after we got it, he taught me how to listen to it using Winamp. He got up to go do something but told me to hop on the computer and practice searching for stuff. When he came back, he saw that I had successfully gotten myself "We Are One" from The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (don’t sleep on this movie ya’ll) but I had it loaded into Winamp like 30 times because I wanted to listen to it on repeat. I remember his chuckle as he told me, "Hey, you know you don't have to add the song over and over. You can just hit this button right here. It means Repeat. It will just repeat the song for you automatically." Seems like common sense now, but ya just had to live through that time to know! Aside from video game cheats and wrestling moves, this was one of the earliest skills I remember Dave teaching me that I still use to this day. He was so generous with everything, especially knowledge.

Anyway, fast forward to 2004 and I had become a pro at using Limewire, with maybe only 1 out of 20 songs I got having the loud sirens and a random dude shouting "D-D-D-D-D-JAYYY BEATZZZ" every 20 seconds. I had just finished burning an MP3 CD and called Dave over so I could show him all of my sorted folders with bands like Goo Goo Dolls, Matchbox Twenty, etc. He gave me a subtle nod of approval and went back to whatever he was doing. It was maybe a few months later that I was waiting for Dave in his car and among his stack of CDs, I found one labeled "Benny Music" - it had all of the music I had showed him in my sorted folders, loaded onto his MP3 disc exactly how I had it on mine. It's really silly looking back on it now, but I'll never forget that feeling, like I was the coolest person ever because Dave (who was the coolest person I knew) wanted to listen to my playlist. I never told him about that. I really wish I had. But I hope that he was able to see just how much he influenced my love of movies, music, and video games.

A memory I often think about with David was one night when we were hanging out at his parents’ house. This was at their house at Springhaven before they had moved. We were on the back porch and he had brought his hookah rig. It was my first time seeing a legit setup. We were smoking and having a good time. I remember the disapproving look his mom had whenever she passed by. The same disapproving look he was giving us when we were trying to be cool and blow O’s. I'm not sure how long we smoked for, but I was so appreciative that he included me in on this that night.

This memory sticks out to me because he always made me feel welcome when I was around and it reminds me so much of spending our youth together.  It is one of my earliest memories of David and it will be one that I will carry through the rest of my life.

Looking back through all my messages between us, he would always be asking me to download games so that we could play together and I remember he would tell me and Danny to come over y’all’s house to eat, hang out or play games, but me and Danny would be so scared to knock on your door because we were scared of y’alls parents opening the door lol, but honestly, this was the best part about being a kid and I wish me and Danny could still come over and hang out together like we used to do.