Key Themes
“Putting the Pieces Together” explores profound themes of human resilience, healing, and the journey from brokenness to wholeness. Each theme represents a piece of David’s life—and perhaps a piece of your own story too.
Childhood Trauma & Alcoholism
The wounds that shaped a life
David’s story unflinchingly addresses the reality of growing up with alcoholic parents. His mother, whose feelings were easily hurt, would drink to heal emotional wounds. His father, frustrated by limited opportunities and a third-grade education, found escape in alcohol. Together, their drinking created a chaotic environment where two young boys had to fend for themselves.
The book details the constant moves (fleeing from unpaid bills), the nights of complete unsupervised freedom when his parents lay passed out, the hunger that drove him to steal money for food, and the deep confusion of wondering why a mother would start drinking the very day she brought her son home from the hospital.
Yet David’s account isn’t bitter—it’s honest. He shows how children adapt to survive, how trauma leaves lasting marks, and how understanding your wounds is the first step toward healing them. This theme resonates with anyone who has faced addiction in their family or carries scars from childhood.
Abandonment & Finding Belonging
Searching for home in institutions
David spent significant portions of his childhood in institutions: detention centers, hospital wards, and Edgewood Orphanage. The book explores what it means to be a child without a stable home, moved from place to place, never quite belonging anywhere.
At age ten, recovering from polio in a hospital, David was never visited by his parents. Not once. The abandonment was so apparent that hospital staff and community members noticed. Five families stepped in, bringing gifts and companionship to a boy whose own family couldn’t be bothered to show up.
Yet within these institutions, David found unexpected pockets of belonging. Edgewood Orphanage provided structure, friendship with other displaced children, and house mothers who cared. The theme explores how belonging isn’t always found where you expect it, and how family can be made, not just born.
Resilience & the Will to Survive
The strength you didn't know you had
David admits there were times he was “sorry to be alive,” times when the pain seemed unbearable. This honest acknowledgment of how close he came to giving up makes his survival all the more remarkable. The book doesn’t romanticize resilience—it shows it as a day-by-day choice to keep going.
His resilience wasn’t about being strong all the time. It was about finding small ways to survive: feeding himself when his parents wouldn’t, finding joy in a bicycle given by a sympathetic cop, captaining a softball team at the orphanage, cherishing the kindness of Miss Ely the nurse.
The memoir demonstrates that resilience often comes through connection with others. The strangers who helped, the institutions that provided structure, the relationships that offered love—all were part of David’s survival toolkit. His message: you don’t have to do it alone, and asking for help isn’t weakness, it’s wisdom.
Love & Partnership
Sixty-seven years of building together
The book is dedicated “To Glenda, my partner for the past sixty-seven years”—a testament to the transformative power of committed love. For someone whose childhood was marked by abandonment and instability, David’s long marriage represents the ultimate triumph: creating the stability and love he never had.
While the memoir focuses primarily on David’s early struggles, Glenda’s presence as his partner through decades of adult life provides the foundation upon which he built his new identity. She represents the possibility of healing through relationship, of being chosen and staying chosen.
This theme speaks to anyone seeking to understand how love can heal old wounds, how partnership can provide the stability that was missing in childhood, and how building a family of your own can rewrite the script you were handed.
Success Despite Adversity
You can prosper, not just survive
David states clearly that his goal is to show “that success is possible despite the sometimes seemingly unsolvable problems one may face.” His life is proof of this principle. Despite limited early education, childhood trauma, and every disadvantage, he built a successful career, raised a family, and eventually retired to what he describes as “the good life.”
The book details his journey from poverty and chaos to stability and prosperity. From having to steal money for food as a child to achieving financial security. From institutional care to building his own home. From abandonment to creating a family that stuck together.
This theme is particularly powerful for anyone who feels their circumstances make success impossible. David’s message: if you fight for it, if you refuse to accept defeat, if you gather your pieces and keep building—success is within reach.
The Power of Kindness
How strangers become angels
Throughout his memoir, David pauses to acknowledge “the good people I encountered along my way.” The five families who brought him gifts in the hospital. Miss Ely, the nurse who called him her boyfriend and kissed his forehead. The sympathetic cop who told him to pick any bicycle from the impound lot. The house mothers who provided structure and care.
These moments of kindness weren’t grand gestures—they were simple acts of human compassion. Yet they made all the difference to a child who had been abandoned by those who should have loved him most. David shows how small acts of kindness can literally save a life.
This theme challenges readers to recognize their power to impact others. We never know when our simple act of compassion might be the piece that helps someone else put their life together. The ripple effects of kindness are immeasurable.
Making Meaning from Suffering
Purpose born from pain
At 88, David chose to write this memoir. Not to complain about his childhood or seek sympathy, but to help others who might be struggling with similar challenges. The act of writing the book itself represents making meaning from suffering—taking his painful experiences and transforming them into a gift for others.
He explains that he thought “some would associate with these events and the stories and find them interesting and perhaps beneficial.” This is the ultimate act of turning pain into purpose: using your wounds to help heal others.
The theme encourages readers to consider how their own difficult experiences might become sources of wisdom, compassion, and help for others. Our suffering doesn’t have to be meaningless—we can choose to give it meaning through how we use what we’ve learned.
Discover Your Own Pieces
David’s themes may resonate with your own journey. Whether you’re seeking healing, searching for hope, or simply wanting to understand the human capacity for resilience, his story offers profound insights