Dear Reader: Meet Bob

I have this friend.  His name is Bob. Literally.
He lives downstairs cattycorner to me.

I dont know how old he is,
At least in his 60s.
But he's interesting.

What I know about him is:

-he just moved into the complex a couple months ago,

-he lost his cell phone
(which he asked me to help find:  My first encounter with Bob)
-so, now he has an iPhone
--that neither of us know how to work.

-he sleeps on a military cot,

-his estranged wife/ex-wife, Wanda, made him get his own place,

--because he's an alcoholic,

--and Wanda "can't handle his drinking anymore"

-and he "really loves gin",
--but he's "getting pretty good at sticking only to beer"

-he loves animals,

-he loved his dog,
--which has since been adopted :(

-sometimes he gets dizzy when he stands up too fast,

-he broke his glasses somehow so he taped them together until he "gets the new ones in the mail."

-he wants to volunteer and went through some sort of training for the humane society,
(He's very proud of this)

-he can't drive for some reason

-his father was a tailor

-he was once a tailer for his father and worked in the clothing industry most of his life,

-he "plays the monopoly CD" on the compiter
--he has internet but "don't know what to do with it"

-he's "not in good health" (I did not inquire as to why)

and,

-he's one of the most interesting people I have ever met.

The atmosphere around Bob is thick and heavy somehow,

You get this overwhelming sense of heavy reality weighing down on his frail little frame.

Yet, he has such a tremendously good heart.

There's so much potential in Bob.
and I feel it every time I say hi to him.

I'm dazzled by it.

Or maybe I'm crazy,
and,

if I am,
so be it.

His biggest challenge has been finding something to do with his time.

He gets bored,
and he's lonely,
so he drinks and everything else spirals.

He's expressed multiple times how "he wishes he could do something,"
a job,
or volunteer.

But he can't get there because he can't drive.
and so he has just his apartment and we're back to bordom and monopoly and a six pack.

I get it Bob.

Everyone needs something more.

Some people chose work
some school,
some family,
some friends,
some lovers.

We all secretly want more.

and when life seems to be working against us we need "more" even more so,

and even more,
when we're told we're facing the last few years of our lives.

I know when time catches up with me,
the last thing I want to slap me in the face,
is the realization that,
I still have so much to offer the world,
but there's no way to do so.

I refuse to accept that
and I refuse to let Bob accept that.

I decided I'm adopting him.

He loves animals.

I'm going to find a way for Bob to get to his animals.

And maybe that one day
will be one less day without his beers.

Because he wasn't bored,
and he wasn't "in a state of flux."
Because he had a purpose greater than his own.
Because he helped another living being today.

I wish there were more programs that assisted people with volunteering.

More specifically those with limited transportation.

I pay enough in taxes.

How do I get a few of those dollar bills to go to Bob and others willing to make positive contributions to our communities and their own lives?

Dear reader,
Meet Bob