Im sitting in my living room waiting for my neighbor to die....

[samnsara]

..Hes on hospice and his wife told the other neighbors he will more than likely pass today. He and his wife are in their early 70s.. my hubby and i not much younger. Neighbor Bill looked much older ...he was from Tennessee, rolled his own cigarettes, had a tough life. I never knew his political leanings but it didn't matter (altho I can guess who he supported) because he was a real neighbor to me...one I could always count on.

We have been neighbors for almost 25 years....not the kind where you have dinner together, play cards, bar b q or hang out....but the kind you call when you are just needing a neighborly hand. He was always there to help....got my mail for me on vacations, we fed their dogs for them, we called each other with wildlife sightings ( 'get your dogs inside theres a cougar, bear, rattlesnake etc) and when we observed the first hummingbirds to arrive in the spring etc.

We live miles from town deep in a canyon in the woods so we watch out for each other but don't get in each others faces. Only a handful of houses up here so even when any of us went the 15 miles into town we checked with one another if anyone 'needed anything'.

I knew he had cancer but I thought it had been beaten.. I probably talked to him just one time this year.

So I can see his house though the pine trees across the canyon. Hospice is there, his dtr is there. One neighbor is running a chain saw for some reason and I hear a lawnmower...its starting to rain. We are all just kind of watching and waiting. I assume if he passes there will be an official vehicle of some kind.
Godspeed Bill....