Stop in for a cup of coffee
Very nice to spend time with older folks, and very appreciated by him I'm sure!!
I'd like to talk to him about what cars he owned, how it was in his childhood and during wartime.
I shudder sometimes to think when I'm old, the younger generation in my family doesn't possess deep feelings for their elders.
Yeah, he's pretty cool and great to talk to.
He's lived here across the street dating back to my grandparents in 1963 he moved in across the street. I like to hear stories from him about my grandpa who died when I was 7 years old, so I don't have many memories of him. I have some, but not as much as I would like.
His grandkids used to play with my sons when I came to visit my dad here on holidays off of work. So 3 generations of his family have known 4 generations of ours, they are good people... :prayer:
He can't see very well anymore, so he doesn't drive. I offer to give him rides once in a while, but he has his support crew also and doesn't need to rely on me.
I've started bringing him to the local fresh farm stand to get fresh local grown veggies. They have a good selection there and most of it is picked fresh in the morning and trucked 45 minutes up here to sell. I'm trying to get him there every week. Then he says that he doesn't need to go to the local grocery store.
He loves the fresh peaches and has a half of one in the morning for breakfast, and finishes the other half by the end of the day.
This was the third time that I got him there this season. I told him that he can come along with me every week if he wants to. He treated me to a hot chocolate and he had a coffee today at Dunkin' Donuts on the way home....
He enjoys the conversation. His wife died a few years back, then his dog died last year, so he's all alone in the house all day and enjoys company. He sits out in front of his garage and greets the neighbors as they go by and enjoys the weather and scenery around here. He does get out for lunch sometimes with others.
The local police department has a program that checks on all the senior citizens every week to make sure that they are ok. A couple of the jr. police cadets (high school/college age police student program here) have also started mowing his lawn and doing yard work for him on the side.
Now a few of the neighbors are having them mow their lawns. Bob lets them keep their lawn equipment in his garage as he doesn't drive anymore and sold his car, so he has garage space for their lawn tractors and stuff. They just acquired a John Deere lawn tractor that another neighbor a few streets over put out for the garbage. All it needed was a fuel line and fuel filter and it started right up. He says it has low hours also, so they got a good score.... :cheers:
So there are plenty of people going in and out to help him weekly. He even has a hair cutter that comes with a converted coach bus with a chair and running water to cut his hair in his driveway.
I snow blow his drive way for him in the winter so he doesn't slip and fall getting his mail. He's a great neighbor and I don't want anything to happen to him and him and not be able to get his supplies and support crew him.
I have his son's phone numbers and if I don't see him or any signs of action there, I call him and if he doesn't answer, I let his sons know to check up on him. A few years ago, I noticed that he didn't bring his trash can in after trash pick up on Thur. It was still out after noon on Friday and he never leaves it out that long, so I let his son know and it turned out that he was sick in bed and not feeling well. Luckily nothing serious, but it was good that his son checked up on him and took him to a doctor to get some antibiotics to help him.
Bob used to come talk with me while my son was waiting for the bus at the stop in front of his house, but my kid drives now and doesn't take the bus anymore. We would walk our dogs to the stop and talk while waiting for the bus to pick him up. The bus driver would have "Doggy treat Fridays" where she would give any dogs at the bus stop a treat when she picked up the kids in the morning... (the dogs looked forward to that - she was a dog lover also)...
I don't get over to talk with him as much as I would like, but I try to when I can spare the time...
He does have some good stories and was a Navy man like my grandpa and father were. :prayer: