Today is Saturday .. It's a very lonely day for my neighbor Bill. Bill is 91 years old and his wife died 6 years ago .. According to Bill, his Blessed 60 years of marriage to his wife was not just wonderful, but blissful (as he describes it). He describes her as the most beautiful lady in the world and what his every breath was taken for.
Bill now lives by himself .. he has one daughter who I have never seen visit, In the 24 years we have been neighbors .. according to Bill, she calls once in a while. On Thanksgiving, Bill sat home alone .. no one to share his Blessings with .. I invited Bill for Thanksgiving dinner but of course he refused which is typical for him .. So instead of him coming over for dinner, my husband and the guys in my family took dinner to him and shared a couple hours with this lonely Vet. My husband describes the time like this .. If you could see the look on his face when all 5 of us guys showed up at the door with dinner and his favorite pie.. it was priceless. He wanted to talk about the good ol' days, we just let him have his time sharing .. He talked politics and we even talked about crypto's. My husband says the house got loud with laughter .. Which made perfect sense considering they were having multiple shots of Bills favorite top shelf Scotch .. Maybe a couple to many :)
Bill is in the Nike jacket and of course is proudly showing off his Vet cap
Sadly, today, as I was walking the dogs around the block, I seen Bill sitting in the house inside the front window .. alone. This is not the first time he has sat there alone, just mind wandering. My husband and I decided to go visit Bill and take him some dinner. When we got there, Bill was still sitting in the front window area .. He let me know he is playing Scrabble .. Playing Scrabble all alone
It breaks my heart to think that at 91 years old, he sits there and plays Scrabble by himself, all alone. It angers me that his daughter does not spend any time with her dad .. ever. This wonderful kind man who we find to be so loving and wonderful does not deserve this .. It saddens me so very much.
My husband typically visits Bill on Sundays and they share a shot of Bills favorite high shelf Scotch and just shoot the shit for a couple hours on the front porch of his home. Bill refers to my husband as his best friend. They talk about getting old and dying .. Bill has said several time, "Don't allow yourself to get old". My husband has asked him if he is afraid of dying .. According to Bill, the only thing he is afraid of at this point is retaking his drivers test at the DMV in February. Although this is funny to us, he is so afraid of loosing his license.
I am sharing this story today on Steemit as I just hope that more of us can be a GIFT TO THE ELDERLY .. Share some quality time with a neighbor or family member .. You may be the only person that has even seen or talked to them in quite some time .. In the case of Bill.
During our visit today with Bill, my husband and I asked him lots of questions .. questions that would help us to try and bring joy and purpose to his lonely life.
We asked him what activities he enjoys. He like fishing (which he says he has not done in over 10 years), playing scrabble, gardening, woodwork, talking about old times, and enjoying his Scotch.
We asked him what activities he does NOT enjoy. He began laughing so hard at this question, I could not help but start laughing along with him. He does not like to cook, clean bathrooms, wash the car, or fold laundry.
WHATS THE PLAN??
Well, now that we know what activities Bill enjoys, we are on a mission to make this wonderful man smile .. To bring some happiness and purpose to his life again.
We have registered Bill in an upcoming Senior Fishing Derby .. we even invited and paid for his friend John to join him.
We have convinced him to come to our house on Wednesday nights to enjoy dinner with us .. This was not an easy task .. he had to be convinced that he is not a bother.
There is a Senior club in the next City over where Bill can go to play Scrabble on a monthly basis with the Group. Hopefully Bill can drive himself monthly to this outing, otherwise we will make arrangements with Lift to get him there.
The weekly Sunday visits with my husband and enjoying Scotch on the front porch will continue.
I have convinced Bill to build me a couple of birdhouses for my yard .. This will give him satisfaction when it comes to his love of woodworking.
I have let him know that I am here should he need help with the housework .. If I have to, I will hire someone monthly to clean Bills bathrooms.
Steemit Friends, It's up to us, YOU AND ME, to ensure that Seniors feel loved!!!! Don't be that person who is too busy to lend a hand or take an extra minute to make a Senior smile .. You could change their life forever, just being there. No one deserves to be alone and I am positive they don't want to be alone.
Go out and make it happen .. please. I love you Friends .. SUNSHINE247