Goodbye my old friend

8/28/08 Thursday
I went to the old guys place this morning and helped him hang a door. That went well except when I backed into his gate. Didn’t hurt it much, just bent it over a little. He wasn’t terribly concerned but I told him “That’s not a good way to start the day”. I did ok on the door. It works well when I have someone there to tell me what to do. That way I don’t get lost or sidetracked. I forgot to take a pain pill so was in pretty rough shape by the time we got done. He looked at me and said “I didn’t ask you how much you want to get paid when we set this up. How much do you want?”. I was expecting this and already knew what I would say. “You can pay me whatever you want. I’m really not worried about it” was my reply. “That won’t work” the old guy told me so I explained that since I woke from the coma I see life much differently. “I really don’t care, you can pay me five bucks an hour or anything you want. Fact is I’ll work for free just to help out”. “I’ll pay you more than five bucks an hour” he said and that was the end of the discussion. Later he asked if I want to get paid daily or at the end of the week and I told him he could pay whenever it was convenient so it will be weekly.

I’m sure this all set him back a little but it’s honestly the way I feel. Every need we have had has been met in one way or another, sometimes out of the blue. I remember when I was in St. Louis there was a time I had no food. The twenty dollars a week my brother gave me didn’t last long. No one knew this for I kept it to myself. I thought I heard a knock at the door but wasn’t sure because it was faint. Going down to check I found a bag of groceries sitting at the door with no one in sight. Cherie and I have been wonderfully blessed here. Despite my struggles with my faith I trust in God and do not worry about my next meal or any other thing like that. I worry more about my ability to get things done though I do have a concern about Cherie’s teeth and her need for dental work. She endures a lot of pain and has chronic infections. Her new job has good medical benefits but they don’t kick in till ninety days and I’m not sure about the dental coverage. That’s rarer in company medical plans.

Jesus said in Matthew 6:25-34 "For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you?
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Suzie, Eileen’s daughter, called me while I was writing this to let me know they are moving Eileen to a different funeral home where it costs much less. She needs to have $1400.00 for them by Tuesday and only has $300.00 now. It’s hard when you are too poor to be buried. But the poor I know, the poor I’ve lived with, I’ve been poor but even when I had multiple companies and was doing well it was those who had little I preferred being with, or at least was the most comfortable being around. They are just real people with no pretense, down to earth and blunt in their speech and you knew where you stood. There will be a benefit concert at a bar to try and raise the funds this weekend. It will be run by a man whom Eileen was first with. I can’t remember if they were married but she lost the baby they had. He went on to Vietnam and they fell apart. We will send a hundred dollars to the funeral home when my check is deposited Friday.

If any of y’all wish to donate for her funeral email me and I’ll give you the funeral homes number. Actually, here’s the number. It’s the Sujkowski funeral home and the number is 419-666-1566. Make sure you tell them the donation is for Eileen Carter. I’m sure they can take a credit card over the phone as there isn’t enough time to mail a check. God I wish I could be there for the funeral and to help Suzie with things. We were so looking forward to seeing Eileen in five weeks when we are flying to Toledo.

With Eileen dies many of my memories that were lost with the accident. While we were in Toledo we would visit her and listen to the stories of what I’d done. You would often hear “Wow!!! I did that?” from me. We tried to talk Eileen into coming to Texas with us to get her away from the evils that lurk in that part of town, to help her escape to a more peaceful life. That she certainly deserved but she wouldn’t come.

Goodbye my dear old friend.