Some Days Nourish the Stomach........and Some Days Nourish Your Soul

I hope you will all forgive me today if I digress from the topic of food, unless you count things that nourish your heart and soul. Today, is one of those days in my life. If you have ever scrolled all the way down to the bottom of the blog (yes, I know that's is a long way to scroll) you would have seen a countdown clock on the site to my son David's medical school graduation. Today is the day and so, this post is for you my dear son, David Feiner, M dot D dot ***

David Edward Feiner, M.D.

David is our third child, born December 2, 1983, and from the day he was born, he always had to do everything quickly, and do everything early (including his arrival.) He was always so determined. At age two, he rode a bicycle because his brothers did, even peddled it uphill with two flats. My father used to sit in awe, as he jumped on the cable box on the lawn so he would be high enough to get on his bike and ride off.

He did things his way, once Aunt Barbara Schwartz found him face down in the creek next to our house on winter day, she jumped out of the car, because she thought he had drowned. She pulled him up by his hair, smiled at her when she asked, "David, what are you doing?" In his lisp (at the time) he replied, "I'm thwimming!"

Always thinking, when he was about 4, a close friend of ours was breast-feeding her newborn son. David asked, "Aunt Carmen, what are you doing?" She replied, "Feeding Eric." David wanted to know what he was eating? She replied, "He's drinking milk," to which David then replied, "Which thide has thoda?"

He followed his two brothers around, to the point of annoyance, in fact, most of the time, they wanted to kill him. But, you could never stay angry at David - no matter what he did, he'd look at you with those big brown eyes and you just had to love him!

David was going to become a business tycoon,
the theme of his Bar Mitzvah was Wall Street,

he had his life all mapped out. Somewhere between age thirteen and college he decided on a new course. First, he wanted to be a truck driver (he worked for McCraith's Beverages driving a truck in the summers to earn some money) actually, I think he still may harbor that dream somewhere. Then, he went to school in Buffalo, and lived with his older brother Jeff, who was in medical school at the time. At one point, Steven moved in with them while he was studying for the LSAT's. Somehow, the boy who tormented his older brothers, was now their peer, and with a little hero worship thrown in for good measure, he decided to follow in both his father's

Dad's graduation from medical school 1978

and his brother Jeff's footsteps;

Jeff's Graduation from medical school - May, 2005

he told us he was going to medical school.

David was accepted into medical school in his sophomore year of college. By the time he was ready to graduate, he had a momentary episode of cold feet, as following in Jeff's footsteps could not have been easy, but he persevered, and set his own course in medical school.

In the four years that followed, David did his own thing in medical school, blazing a path of his own. He lost the lisp around age 6, but kept the determination and drive that carried him to where he is now. Today, he graduates, and July 1st, he will start a residency in Orthopedics in Buffalo.


You have always had a heart of gold and you are filled with compassion - I have no doubt if you follow in the role models in front of you, Uncle Frank, Uncle Mike, Clement, your father, and your brother,

you will be a kind, empathic, and caring physician, one of the old breed,
and not the new breed! I know you have made them proud...

So David, here is a little recap of your life -

David, nothing but the best for you -
in your tux right from the start

Always looking to Dad for advice and security

with your brothers in the early years


They were probably figuring out how to get rid of you...

and then came your sister, who you could torture,
but heaven help any one else who came near her

How could you ever stay angry at a face like that???

What a family :)

You think there was a doctor in the house at our house :)

The little boy who hated camp and wanted to come home

How you spent most of your childhood - tormented by your brothers

From Exeter

David and Lauren together at Exeter

Your graduation from Exeter


Growing up, the boy
becoming a man

Graduation from State University of New York at Buffalo 2005

You played


Got Buff - Aunt Mary Anne and Aunt Michele
refer to you as Dr. Hot Shit

How could two parents be so lucky as to get the four of you!

You studied (I think)
first year of medical school

Your "White Coat" Ceremony

Aunt Fifi and "her boy"

Match Day - March 19, 2009

Truth be told, you're my Momma's Boy
but that's a good thing...because you are still your own man!

Dad and David - some things never change

I wish your grandfathers and Nanny could have witnessed this day,
I'm sure they are looking down and beaming. Your friends, family,

cousins, aunts and uncles, grandmother and Aunt Fifi,

your brothers and sister,

and it goes without saying how proud we are of you!

Mom and Dad with David in Las Vegas
we hit the Jackpot with you!
We love you David

Paging Dr. Feiner

They are paging you for surgery!!!

*** When David started medical school, at the end of the first year, he said you can call me David Feiner M; at the end of the second year, it was David Feiner M dot; at the end of the third year, it was David Feiner, M.D; and now he's earned it...David Feiner M.D., lol

Follow-up photos: The Newest Dr. Feiner

Jeff and Marc Hooding David

David E. Feiner, M.D.

The Doctors Feiner

Proud Family and Friends








Hooding Video