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| Bill and our neighbor Bob yesterday |
How are you surviving in this cauldron of heat?
The picture is of my Bill with our neighbor Bob. Bob is the best neighbor we have ever had in all our years together. Bob's wife died a few years ago. Bob lives alone with his puppy an Australian cattle dog poodle mix named "Cleopatra". Bob goes fishing usually every Wednesday. I walk Cleo for him on those days. Cleo is in love with me. God, who isn't? (sarcasm).
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| Me and Cleo |
Our friendship with Bob is very odd because Bob is very MAGA. Yes, a very strong Trump supporter! We don't talk about THAT though. Although I do see the Trump signs and flags in his garage when I go over to get Cleo for her walk. Bob's late wife Barbara
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| Bill and Barbara |
was also a very good friend of me and Bill. Also a strong Trump support and she DID talk about it which I often had to change the subject. She liked me and Bill and likewise we liked her. She was smart, funny and generous as is Bob. Bob often brings me fruit and vegetables and somedays his delicious pasta salad. He used to bring Bill some of the fish he caught, cooked and all. I would never cook fish in our house, I hate that smell. However, over time Bill got tired of all the fish he was bringing us and I had to ask Bob to stop giving us his caught fish.
Bill and Bob used to talk all the time but since Bill's strokes and his blindness, they rarely talk. When Bob did stop over for a visit Bill often wouldn't know who he was and couldn't understand what he was saying. Gradually the visits stopped. However, I often talk to Bob during our mutual encounters in our backyards. As I said his dog LOVES me and if she see's me out back she whines for her treat and some loving, which I gladly give to her. Bob jokingly accuses of me of "stealing" his dog.
Bob's wife and I often had talks about me and Bill being gay. She was curious because Bill and didn't fit the stereotype of gay men. She most gay men were effeminate, promiscuous (i.e., sluts), lived in gay ghettos like the inner cities. Here Bill and I are living in a suburban neighborhood with all straights. When Bill and I first moved to our development there were four gay couples living here, two female and two male. They all moved, just me and Bill left. And we're quite happy here. First time in our lives together that we have lived in a neighborhood where we weren't discriminated against. Just another good reason to live in Delaware besides the great low taxes! One question she asked always amused me and Bill, she wanted to know "who was the wife and who was the husband?" in our relationship. I had to patiently explain to her that there was no "wife" in our relationship, we were just two men living together. She insisted "There HAS to be a wife and husband."I never did convince her. She said more than once, referring to Bill who she was very attracted to "You just haven't mean the right woman." Right Barbara! And I responded to her and "You just haven't met the right woman to turn you gay!" Oh we had a grand old time. I miss Barbara.
My wish now is that Bill and I pass on before our neighbor Bob. I don't think at this time of our lives, where Bill has these health problems and I'm having increasing health challenges, that we could take another round of bad neighbors.
There are many things I will never forget about our friendship with Barbara but one that has always stuck in my mind was when she casually remarked to me one day "I don't see what Bill sees in you."
OMG!