My Father’s Bestie

A friend in need, IS, a friend indeed, having someone there, to give him the support he is in need of, both physically, AND emotionally, translated…

That day I’d called up my father, to remind him to take his hypertension medication on time, to be aware of the temperature changing too quickly, as he’d told me okay, he’d told me how awhile ago, his cell phone stopped functioning, that gladly, uncle Fu was there to take him to the repair shop to get it fixed.

And, as I thought about Uncle Fu who lived at the entrance of my family’s home, I’d felt that surge of warmth.  He and my father who’s past ninety were almost twenty years apart, they were both widowers, and connected, became one another’s, best friends.  Because they lived close to each other, they’d hung out together often, to have teas, or to go stroll at the nearby park, and from time to time, Uncle Fu would drive my father out to get some wind.

Recalling how a few years ago, my father mentioned, that one day he’d taken the greyhound bus out to visit a relative, and on the way back, he’d, gotten off stops before his actual stop, it was cold then, and he didn’t have enough strength in his legs to carry him home, plus there’s NO cabs in the countryside, he’d, sat his butt down on the side of the road, called up his bestie to check, to wait for the next bus, as Uncle Fu learned this, without a second word, he’d, immediately went to pick my dad up.  There was another time, as my father was at home, he’d fallen ill, it was my Uncle Fu who’d, taken him to the hospital that time.

As the saying “having a faraway relative is not as good as a good neighbor”, sometimes, the care and concern that Uncle Fu showed dad, was way more than my eldest brother who lived with my father.  I’m so happy that dad has this best friend with whom he could share things with, and I’m, deeply, grateful to Uncle Fu, for helping us look after our father too!

And so, this man has a great neighbor, who watches out for him, and maybe it’s how they were both, widowers that’s connected them, but, having this best friend, it’d, helped ease the loneliness of this person’s father’s elderly years, and, the friend offered her father a ton of help when the father needed it too.