We have a family friend who is in a bad way right now.  He’s actually my mother’s hairdresser and he’s as gay as the day is long.  He’s a good man.  A very sweet and friendly man.  And no, I don’t mean that as a pun.  He has a conscience and he’s always been good to my mother.

Obviously given social distancing and the (at least temporary) shutting down of businesses such as his, he’s having a difficult time right now.  He also has some health issues, among which are that he had a stroke a few months back and is now completely blind in one eye.  He also recently had surgery on his foot and can’t get out and do for himself for the time being at least.

As a bonus, his partner died very unexpectedly about a year ago.  As I said he’s had a hard time lately.

Since all of this has started, and of course now the virus thingy too….  I try to check in with him once a week or so.  I called him last night to check on him and find out how he was doing.  Fortunately he was honest.  Not terribly well.

His surgical wound is not healing correctly.  He told me he still has to hop around the house on one foot.  He had an appointment yesterday to have his sutures removed but they told him it would be at least another three weeks before they could take them out.  That will make it five weeks.  That’s a problem.  Surgical wounds should not take that long to heal.  But technically none of my business.  Still though, obviously getting out and doing groceries is not an option for him right now for a few reasons.

So Mom and myself talked about it.  In spite of the whole social distancing and cabin fever thing we have more than we need.  And so, we called him back.

I didn’t want to pry into his business and I didn’t want to make him feel like an invalid.  It was a delicate situation.  Again, fortunately he was honest.

So I went to the store yesterday evening and bought a shitload of groceries.  They’re in Dave as we speak.  Mom started cooking.  Casseroles, etc.  Things he can easily just heat up and chow down on.  Later today we’ll be delivering them to him.  I suspect we’ll probably just leave them on his porch and then he’ll have to hop them into the kitchen, etc.  But even still, it’s easier for him than to have to hop through a grocery store and then cook for himself.

My point is this…

You can’t completely fix everyone’s problems in life.  Sometimes they’re not completely fixable anyway.  But sometimes you’re able to at least ease the difficulty if they’re open to it.

And if you can, you should.  It’s a nice feeling.

Take care of yourselves.  And help those whom you care about if you can.  Even just a phone call or a text message to let them know you care and are thinking of them can sometimes do wonders.

Be well my friends.

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