Maybe the old doc isn’t too thankful, but I am thankful for passers-by who care. And, maybe I shouldn’t share this story, but I will anyway.
It’s no secret that we are a neighborhood of young people, middle aged people, older folks, and some pretty old… ancient… folks. As one neighbor says when asked his age, “I’m between 80 and dead.” Okay, so that may sound a bit morbid to you, but you have to know the old fellow. He is a laugh a minute.
All that out of the way, I noticed a car at the end of the drive. I was already in the yard, so I walked over to the car — since I didn’t recognize it. There was a young lady in the car dialing away on her cell phone. I didn’t know her. She rolled her window down and started babbling.
“There’s an old man down the street… where the road comes up the hill…. he’s sitting on the ground…. he’s pulling weeds…. he’s not in anyone’s yard…. he’s on the side of the hill…. I’m calling a nurse…. He may be an Alzheimer’s patient who has wandered off….”
Yada…yada… yada. I rolled my eyes and told her to hang up the phone. I noticed that she was wearing scrubs. And, it didn’t take long for me to determine that she was one of those home health nurses.
The “old man” is a retired doctor. He lives in the house across the street from the intersection in question. He sits on the ground when he weeds. He tends the side of the hill at the intersection just because he wants it to look pretty — and it does. And, he doesn’t have Alzheimer’s. In fact, he’s probably one of the sharpest neighbors on the ridge.
“Was he bothering anything?” I asked.
“No, he’s weeding. And, he’s dressed really nice.”
I smiled and explained who he is. I won’t use his name here for obvious reasons. But, after I thought about it for a minute I was rather thankful for the young lady’s concern. Of course, she could have stopped at any house close to the intersection and asked who he is — or she could have asked him. You can usually get an idea of a person’s mental abilities by talking to them.
But, I guess I am rather thankful that a young person was concerned.
Of course, when I talked with the retired doc later and told him about the young home health care nurse being concerned he replied, “Yeah, when you are a hammer everything looks like a nail.”
I suppose there is a happy medium somewhere.
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