I mention no names because they know who they are. But they are each very special to us, full of caring and acting as our “watchdogs.”
The one who has taken complete charge is a “leader of leaders.” He has had his successful building firm for over 40 years. He knows and understands responsibility, and does not fear success or failure but takes on what needs to be done. He is a rarity, as are all “leaders of leaders,” and fits the definition entirely.
We met a few years back at the Health Club we both went to regularly. He came, worked out, and left, saying few words and having no relationships I saw. He impressed me with his focus and consistency.
I decided to break into his space. I need to know people like this. In many ways, I am like this person. I do what must be done, not what is easy to do.
We became fast and close friends, and I became a part of his remarkable family. How close, how caring, how loving they are for each other. And they welcomed us with warmth.
Time did its thing, and as we aged and became less able, he, remarkably, began to take a stronger position with us as if we were one of his own family. He took charge of us, and we agreed on what needed to be done.
We checked out the 24/7 care facilities in Reno and found the right one for us. He arranged for his people to make the initial move into our new place. Professional movers moved the rest, although there was much we gave away.
It was a challenging time for us because we could only be observers and not participants. We lived out of boxes for a few days until four camp people moved in and went through every box. Pictures were hung, boxes emptied, and miracles of miracles it all came together. We were unable to do it ourselves, yet with the help of those people, we are at home here and totally comfortable.
They volunteered their time and effort to take on what might have been an impossible situation and made it into a “love-in.”
Simple “thanks” will never be enough for what they did and continue to do. To write that we are lucky and blessed to be loved by them seems so shallow. Still, it comes straight from our hearts that we love them all.
Sy & Lenette
Happily will I comment on my early home life. Mom & Dad “bought” a duplex in Milton, a small town south of Boston, Mass. where Dad worked and studied to be an attorney. I used quotation marks because Grandpa actually bought that house by lending my dad the roughly $6,000 cost, a loan Dad didn’t pay back, or so the story goes. Grandpa & Grandma lived in the other half. This was great for me. Grandpa treated me as if I were the most special human ever. Grandma was so sweet to me that I called her Sweetie. She fed me her version of a taste treat: Florida marmalade on raisin toast. From the age of 3, I’d go along the short hallway to Grandpa’s “house” so that Sweetie could help me fight off starvation right after breakfast. But soon, my beloved grandparents moved away to Florida. Today that house is a single-family, five-bedroom home. Its price estimate today is unmentionable.