A Life of Dates

by David S. Florig

Could you figure out what you were doing on each and every day of your life? David Florig set out to do just that - and failed miserably. How could he possibly know what he was doing on some random date in January, 1965?

Undeterred, he set out to recreate his life from those dates that he did know - like the day that his mother's ashes ended up in the car wash vacuum cleaner and the day he saw Elvis and the day he became embroiled in Papergate and the day Playboy photos made their appearance in his high school play - beginning with his birth to an unwed teenage mother that he never knew to his adoption to growing up on the mean streets of Haddon Township, New Jersey to retirement in Maine.

From winning a hotly-contested student council election, to suffering Cold Water Shock. to falling off his roof, to losing his pet pigeon, Florig recalls a life of unbounded joy, heartbreaking loss, bed bugs, long-lost friends, heckling Richard Nixon . . . and family, some of whom he knew and many he didn't. Out of all of that, perhaps the only lesson he truly learned is to avoid poison ivy at all costs.

Told with warmth, humor, a touch of sarcasm, and a whole lot of wistfulness, A Life of Dates is 100% true - at least in Florig's mind. Kind of like The Wonder Years, only encompassing the better part of seven decades.

428 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 1, 2022

About the author

David S. Florig is a member of the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance, as well as a member and past-president of the Pine Tree Curling Club in Portland, Maine. The Stones of Ailsa Craig is his debut novel and is an homage to Belfast, Maine; the glorious Maine coast; and the ancient Scottish sport of curling.

David grew up in South Jersey before retiring to Maine. Adopted by Charles and Marjorie Florig, he has seen a single picture of his birth mother. Subconsciously, that picture may have inspired this story.

For years, David practiced law in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Following his legal career, he was the Executive Director of two nonprofits - Court Appointed Special Advocates of Burlington County (New Jersey) and the West Philadelphia Alliance for Children. WePAC recruited and trained volunteers to open shuttered elementary school libraries in Philadelphia, and for his work on behalf of Philadelphia's children, he was honored as one of the inaugural GameChangers by KYW1060 Newsradio in celebration of Black History Month.

He lives in Maine with his wife of thirty-five years, Nancy, and their ill-mannered rescue dog, Molly Malone.

Reviews

[Scott Welden · Rating 5 out of 5]

A refreshing tale of someone coming to age in the 60’s & 70’s and a powerful poignant story told from the heart. For someone that grew up in the 60’s & 70’s as well, the book brought me back to a period in my life that was simpler and easier to understand, at least for me.

[Melenia · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF at 8%

[norma baker · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is interesting to see a life as a list of the memorable instances of that life. This book contains the mundane list, like snapshots. It is similar, in a way, like the rarly days of social media when people felt compelled to share where they were and what they were doing. However, it is not the minutae that gives life interest, to an audience, and meaning. In the case of this book, the minutae gets in the way of the story. Obviously, the author is less interested on analysis and sees his life as a series of disjointed events. In fact, he believes he is so unimportant that he did not embark on writing a memoir or autobiography. So he sums up his life as a series of instances arranged by date.

[Deb Ellis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book of a boy (man) who grew up in my hometown and went to my high school. I loved all the memories of familiar places, teachers, the ice cream parlor where we went on dates, etc. It was a little heavy on sports for my taste but I was very interested in the facts about the Philadelphia schools and his work to get them libraries. I was shocked that Pennsylvania demands libraries in state prisons with certified librarians and not in its schools. As a Reading Specialist, I was horrified, to learn that if a child is not proficient in reading by grade 3 that they are likely to drop out. As a first grade teacher it made me cry. I felt that the book went on a little too long but overall, I enjoyed it.