Made Me Think

Because there was some worry on my Facebook page, I decided to type this rather longer story into my blog.

For those who were regularly reading, I sincerely apologize for my lapse. I hope that this story will help me get better with updating the blog. For now I will start with this story and start getting the blogs down that should have been written over the last year.

In any event, this happened.

There is an elderly couple who live in my building on the first floor. I see them in the hall occasionally and say hello and make small talk about the weather. The husband is noticeably older than his wife (turns out he is 91), and every time I saw them she was supporting him in walking and helping him get around. They were nothing but sweet every time I saw them.

For the past week, when I have passed their door, I noticed a green suitcase standing by the door. It was always in the same spot, so obviously the couple were not home this week. I happily thought of them on vacation, but someone's bag had gotten lost in the travels. Every morning I wished them well on their vacation despite the missing bag.

Last night when I got home from work close to 8 and the husband and three of my neighbors were standing in front of the elderly couple's door. When I arrived, the story was he was locked out of the apartment somehow. One of the neighbors tried to get in the door using his credit card, but to no avail. The man was sitting on the steps, apparently confused as to why he couldnt get in and didnt know where is his wife was and when she would be back. Immediately, this alarmed me, because I had always seen them together, never alone. He knew he had walked there from somewhere and knew it had taken him 15 minutes to get home, but he could tell us from where he had come.

A quick call to the landlord revealed that his wife had passed away two days ago and that he had been placed in a care facility nearby. Apparently he got confused and wandered home because it was the only place he could remember as being home. A call to police seemed to solve everything. As we sat waiting for the police to arrive, we asked about his children and he said they dont visit often, and it would be useless to call them anyway.

The police arrived and talked with him. Between the phone call and arriving at our apartment building, the police knew from which care facility he had made his escape and were going to return him there. They were really polite and told him, "we are here to give you a ride back." He looked up at them with so much happiness in his eyes and said "that's great!".