Saturday, September 27, 2008

Perspective

I recently met an 88-year-old man named Dave. Dave moved to Colorado from Southern California about five years ago. His nephew, a retired, single firefighter, told him he would take care of him here in Colorado, and, Dave says with grateful conviction in his voice, "he has"!

However, the story does not end there. Dave has a friend who is "only fifty" who calls him every Sunday without fail. She tells him how grateful she is that she has him for a friend, and how much he has helped her appreciate life. She tells him that he has helped her approach life much more positively, and she now has lots of friends, whereas previously she had none.

Dave was married for forty-eight years to a woman who was beautiful at every stage of her life. He showed me pictures from his wallet to prove it! One day, twenty years ago, they were out tending to yard work, when she said, "This is it!" She died right after saying those words.

Dave has other pictures in his wallet. He has several that show him standing next to the plane he flew in World War Two. He has several more of him standing next to the bread truck he proudly drove after returning from the war.

Dave does not like Colorado. The people here are too busy to talk to him. They are always hurrying around. He wants to go back to Southern California. He has a friend there who is only fifty.

3 comments:

Gayle said...

I wish Dave could go back where his friend lives, bless his heart!

What a warm post, Bob. Thanks for sharing this story. Maybe Dave should move to Texas. We've got lots of friendly folks here. :)

Terri Wagner said...

I love to hear older people's stories. They seem so romantic told later in life, whether it was tragic or wonderful or more times than not, both. Wish I could talk to Dave.

shoprat said...

He sounds like a man worth knowing.

If possible he needs to be where is heart is.