Waving Away the Loneliness

This afternoon I was headed out GA 34 to see a bereavement counselor. Yes, I had put it off long enough. Not sure what anyone can say to me at this point that will make a difference, but at the urging of a whole lot of people, I thought I would give it a try. As I was buzzing up the road I passed an assisted living home and there on the driveway, sitting on one of those mobility scooters was a little old man, wearing a baseball cap. I'm guessing he was "eighty-ish" and he was just sitting there watching the world go by. As I drove past, he raised his arm high in a wave of friendship...and I waved right back.

Continuing up the road a little farther I thought to myself, "Wow, how sweet is that? I will have to stop and see him on my way home from my appointment!" But, as I got a mile or so up the road, I could see the sky was getting darker and darker.


It looked like it was about to rain and I figured that by the time I was returning home an hour or so later, he might not be sitting outside any longer. So I got to one of those highway median crossings and whipped my car around to go back. He had an astonished look on his face as I pulled into the driveway.

I got out of my car, walked over to him and shook his hand. I said, "Hi, my name is Lucy, I saw you wave and decided to come back and say hello!" He gave me a woeful smile and said, "My name is Charlie Robertson." "It's a pleasure to meet you Charlie, how long have you lived here?" I asked. He said he had moved there a few months ago because he had started falling and just couldn't live alone anymore. "It's not too bad, but it's sure not home," he said.

"Charlie did you grow up here in Georgia?" I asked. With a hint of a southern drawl, he replied, "Y-e-s." He told me he had retired three times; once from Coca-Cola, once from owning his own gas stations, and finally as a maintenance man for the First Baptist Church. I said,"Well you've sure had a full life, Charlie." He said, "Y-e-s." Next he told me he had two sons, one lives in Kennesaw Georgia, the other in Alabama. He said he doesn't get to see them very often. I said "Me neither, my three boys are spread across the country." Then he told me he had lived alone since his wife died four years ago. I said, "Really? I'm guessing then you know how I feel Charlie. My husband just died nine months ago, I'm on my way to talk with a bereavement counselor." He glanced away for a moment, then looked back at me and said, "I'm very sorry."

I asked Charlie his wife's name and how long they had been married. He said, "Her name is Elizabeth, she died two weeks after our 50th wedding anniversary." To that I replied, "Wow Charlie, how do you do it? I was married 32 years, not nearly as long as you and Elizabeth, I can't imagine how you get through it." He glanced away again, a little longer this time, then he looked me in the eye and said, "It's very hard, I'm not gonna lie to you, it really is hard."

With that I quickly changed the subject because we were both getting a bit choked up. I said, "We sure had some beautiful sunny days this week, didn't we Charlie?" He said, "Y-e-s." I asked him if he knew the weather report for today. He said, "Well, I hear they are getting some bad weather in Alabama and we are supposed to get some thunderstorms this afternoon, some really bad ones." To that I replied, "Yeah, I sure don't like those thunderstorms much, those tornado watches make me a little nervous." Once again, he gave me that pleasant, "Y-e-s."

We talked about a few other things, then I shook his hand again, and said, "Well Charlie, I better get to that appointment." He clasped my hand tightly, not wanting to let go. I said, "God Bless you Charlie, you have a good day now." As I turned to walk away, Charlie said, "I already have...just because you stopped by." While tears filled my eyes, I backed my car out of the driveway. We gave each other one final wave. I headed back up GA 34...just as a soft, gentle rain began to fall.