Dave
Staff member
And I don't mean that all in a good way. Many highs and lows.
First, my mom's estate sale was Saturday. We went out Friday night and stayed in the (mostly) empty house on a couple of mattresses we were selling, because we live an hour away and needed to be there by 6 in the morning to set up. The wife didn't want to get up at 4:30 to do her hair and then drive an hour. I don't really blame her, but damn was that uncomfortable. And Minden is devoid of anything like wi-fi hot spots and is even a dead zone for our phone coverage. So it was kinda boring. No, we weren't going to have sex on the mattresses we were selling the next day.
So Saturday morning we get things set up and the sale itself was a pretty decent success. We sold all the big stuff we wanted to and made about $2000, all of which goes to my mom's care. But there were two people there that made the day cool and a little weird for me.
The first is a guy named David with whom I went to high school. He struggled a lot with his sexuality (apparently) and finally after being married and having kids, came out of the closet and is in a committed relationship with a guy I don't know. Good for him, but this is small town Iowa. So he takes a little crap and gets sideways looks. One of the things, he says, that helps him is knowing that people like me who are the same age and come from the same basic background have his back. He knows that we care about him and don't give a shit about his sexuality. We've become friends on Facebook over the last couple years and my support (along with a few others) has kept his head above water and has helped him to accept who he is. I was blown away by this because I hadn't known that my (vocal) support meant that much to him. I just never treated him any differently. In fact, I kind of make fun of them at times when they post super gay stuff. I'll post things like, "Damn, guys. Richard Simmons would tell you to dial that back a notch." -heh- So he and I talked for a while and then I gave him a hug goodbye, which I don't think he expected.
So I was feeling pretty good. The a lady came in that looked familiar, but I didn't recognize her. I asked my sister and it is the mother of another guy I went to school with. I'll call him "T". T and I were very, very tight in high school. We hung around a lot. His dad was a pretty rough individual and hung around a tough crowd, so T didn't have many friends. Dude was smart as shit, but he was a big smoker and didn't seem to have any ambition other than helping his dad around the farm and raise his horses.
After high school, I went into the Marines and he went into the world of motorcycle gangs. Excuse me. Clubs. He was pretty deep into one of these clubs and did some time for a number of things. It was during this time that he got pretty heavily into other kinds of drugs and seriously fucked up his life. He would try and get clean and stay that way for a time and then fall off the wagon. I learned all of this speaking to his mom after I asked about him. Turns out that he's homeless, living here in Omaha at a shelter. He's still an alcoholic and he's basically given up on himself. As his mom told me, the last time she spoke with him he said something to the effect that, "This is his life now. These people are his family." He's not dead yet, but he's already resigned to the fact that his life will never get better. I asked her if he still broke the law to feed his addiction and she said as far as she knows...no.
I know he's not my problem. I know there's probably nothing that I can do for him. I also know that if I reach out I may be either feeding his demons or putting my stuff and family at risk. His mom doesn't know how to locate him or get a hold of him so it may be all a moot point, but I wish there was something I could do.
She cried when she told me all of this. She hadn't spoken of him in over a year and apparently I was the first person to ask about him in several. His other mom (no, she's not a lesbian, apparently Minden has a polygamous couple!) said she hadn't told anyone about T...well...ever.
I guess I'm not expecting advice on this because there's not much any of us could do or say. I know what shelter he frequents and will probably donate some stuff (or time), but I don't know if I'll even recognize him or know if he'd want to see me (or have me see him in this state).
I guess I just needed to talk about the highs and lows of my estate sale weekend.
First, my mom's estate sale was Saturday. We went out Friday night and stayed in the (mostly) empty house on a couple of mattresses we were selling, because we live an hour away and needed to be there by 6 in the morning to set up. The wife didn't want to get up at 4:30 to do her hair and then drive an hour. I don't really blame her, but damn was that uncomfortable. And Minden is devoid of anything like wi-fi hot spots and is even a dead zone for our phone coverage. So it was kinda boring. No, we weren't going to have sex on the mattresses we were selling the next day.
So Saturday morning we get things set up and the sale itself was a pretty decent success. We sold all the big stuff we wanted to and made about $2000, all of which goes to my mom's care. But there were two people there that made the day cool and a little weird for me.
The first is a guy named David with whom I went to high school. He struggled a lot with his sexuality (apparently) and finally after being married and having kids, came out of the closet and is in a committed relationship with a guy I don't know. Good for him, but this is small town Iowa. So he takes a little crap and gets sideways looks. One of the things, he says, that helps him is knowing that people like me who are the same age and come from the same basic background have his back. He knows that we care about him and don't give a shit about his sexuality. We've become friends on Facebook over the last couple years and my support (along with a few others) has kept his head above water and has helped him to accept who he is. I was blown away by this because I hadn't known that my (vocal) support meant that much to him. I just never treated him any differently. In fact, I kind of make fun of them at times when they post super gay stuff. I'll post things like, "Damn, guys. Richard Simmons would tell you to dial that back a notch." -heh- So he and I talked for a while and then I gave him a hug goodbye, which I don't think he expected.
So I was feeling pretty good. The a lady came in that looked familiar, but I didn't recognize her. I asked my sister and it is the mother of another guy I went to school with. I'll call him "T". T and I were very, very tight in high school. We hung around a lot. His dad was a pretty rough individual and hung around a tough crowd, so T didn't have many friends. Dude was smart as shit, but he was a big smoker and didn't seem to have any ambition other than helping his dad around the farm and raise his horses.
After high school, I went into the Marines and he went into the world of motorcycle gangs. Excuse me. Clubs. He was pretty deep into one of these clubs and did some time for a number of things. It was during this time that he got pretty heavily into other kinds of drugs and seriously fucked up his life. He would try and get clean and stay that way for a time and then fall off the wagon. I learned all of this speaking to his mom after I asked about him. Turns out that he's homeless, living here in Omaha at a shelter. He's still an alcoholic and he's basically given up on himself. As his mom told me, the last time she spoke with him he said something to the effect that, "This is his life now. These people are his family." He's not dead yet, but he's already resigned to the fact that his life will never get better. I asked her if he still broke the law to feed his addiction and she said as far as she knows...no.
I know he's not my problem. I know there's probably nothing that I can do for him. I also know that if I reach out I may be either feeding his demons or putting my stuff and family at risk. His mom doesn't know how to locate him or get a hold of him so it may be all a moot point, but I wish there was something I could do.
She cried when she told me all of this. She hadn't spoken of him in over a year and apparently I was the first person to ask about him in several. His other mom (no, she's not a lesbian, apparently Minden has a polygamous couple!) said she hadn't told anyone about T...well...ever.
I guess I'm not expecting advice on this because there's not much any of us could do or say. I know what shelter he frequents and will probably donate some stuff (or time), but I don't know if I'll even recognize him or know if he'd want to see me (or have me see him in this state).
I guess I just needed to talk about the highs and lows of my estate sale weekend.
