I am up at 6am for a couple reasons. Two sick boys with vomitrocious and my mind is very busy thinking about our friend M. For once, I’m very much without ideas or answers so knowing that there are at least TWO doctors in my family alone reading (and one English teacher who cringes as I spew forth) I thought I’d put this out to the universe.
We have a very good friend, M, who I inherited with Jamie. He is a wonderful, caring, loving person and if we had a home I’d make a place in it immediately for him. When we had a stick house, I even told him as much; that when he was old and tired of the high life, that our house would be his house to retire to. Unfortunately, we scrapped that plan when we sold our house, but I really never imagined we’d still be on the road and not wanting to stop.
So, here is the situation. He is OUR friend and really has no other resources. He has little to no work history and no social security. He lived off a trust fund much of his life and as such, had no need to work but now that he is “older” he has no work history or social security to retire on. He is around 55ish. Maybe a little more, maybe a little less. He is incredibly empathetic and loving and very physically fit. He’d make a wonderful gigalo. (grin – I hate how “smiles” screw up the outlay of the post) He is becoming homeless. I don’t think we could support him financially, living seperate from us, otherwise we’d set him up in an apartment where he is. Here in Mexico, definitely, but I think the idea of Mexico is feels isolated to him. Maybe I need to set him up in San Miguel de Allende with all the other gringos…
So, I’m needing some ideas. How do we lovingly and compassionately offer him a solution? What solutions are there (low income housing, work?). We need to figure out how to get him out of a rapidly downward spiral; he is now at a motel and I think it is the last stop before homelessness. I’m not sure if he has a car anymore. I would love to move him back to the Bay Area, but am totally out of the loop as far as low income places/living for him. And how do we offer to help? Anytime we’ve offered to send money (we can’t just send it – he needs to be involved) he brushes our offer away.
I’m really in a quandry here.
Hi Kitty – We took care of an older fellow in similar circumstances, only he had social security and a small military pension. Still, it is a job. Wonderful you can help. I don’t know a solution to his pennilessness, as well as homelessness, but here is the URL to a blog I read that might help. The fellow is very low income, by choice, and works. But lives exceedingly simply.
See: http://hobopoet.blogspot.com/
Best of luck,
Judie
Possible short term solution: Buy him a cheap reliable van. A 10 to 15 years old G-Van can be had for almost nothing. At the very least, he will always have a place to sleep, and some mobility.
Sam