Sol Part 1

I have a neighbor, he is not your average neighbor.  He is 80yrs old, short, Jewish, is balding, and has a bit of a 'tude.  I can't exactly remember when or how we started to talk but when we did it then turned into a unique friendship.  Most Tuesday nights I spend hanging out with Sol watching movies, going for (short) walks, looking at old photos, or drinking wine.  Some of my friends who know about my relationship with him think it's strange, but it truly isn't. I don't really feel like he is that old.  I was able to convince him to take a painting class, take a cooking class with me and ask a woman in our building out on a date.  He has such a young spirit and comments that come out of his mouth crack me up.  Here are some his all time best statements:

My fortune cookie read "An interesting musical opportunity is in your near future."  His response was "You can't really sing so I think that means this food is going to give you gas!"

His thoughts on the men in Bucktown "All these guys look like idiots their pants are too tight and most of them have nothing to be proud about."

Advice in dating "Be home by 9 that is when respectable girls come home.  Don't chew gum, only street walkers chew gum.  Don't kiss on the first date he'll think you're easy.  You'll never meet a nice Jewish man if you don't lower your height requirement."

When I thought someone broke into my apartment "You're gonna give me a heart attack.  I think God brought you into my life to kill me." 

Religious Beliefs "You need to convert to Judaism, because the men are better.  You will have to get used to someone less than 7feet tall."

When I was going to pass up dessert he said  "Just think of all those women on the Titanic who said, "No, thank you," to dessert that night. And for what!"

The reason I bring Sol up is because I read him my blogs and tell him about my dates.  He's become part of my life and a part of my story.

Two months ago I told him I was going to NYC, Scottsdale, and DC all in the Month of May.  He said that he wished he traveled more when he was younger, and now that he is old he cannot do it.  I dislike the word can't, it shouldn't be in people's vocabularies.  So I went into pep talk mode and told him that he was not too old and it was not too late for him to travel around.  He told me I was crazy and that he would maybe go next year.  So I said to him "Isn't your favorite quote "What if you died tomorrow?  Wouldn't you have wished you lived it up?"

We sat there in silence and I realized that I can say this to my friends to get them to do stay longer and keep dancing but telling an 80yr old man who really might die tomorrow was pretty insensitive.  Just when I though I might have upset him he said "Where should I go?"  I decided to help him research places and he decided on a trip to San Diego and Temecula Valley.  He asked me if I knew any good travel agents which prompted me to laugh at him.  I told him that I would book his trip for him.  I booked his return flight for May 16th so that he and I could share a cab back into the city.

When May 16th rolled around he never showed up.  I waited by his gate and he never got off the flight.  Sol also thinks that I received a degree in technology because I understand how to operate an iPhone, I have a "faceplace", and I can walk to and from our apartments and my internet still works.  It's a miracle!  Since I had no idea how to contact a guy with no cell phone I just had to wait patiently.  Patience isn't my strong suit.  The gate agents had no information and could not tell me if he boarded his flight without a police warrant.  I was tempted to file a missing persons report but decided to just wait one day.  He probably missed his flight and would come home later.  On my cab ride home my vivid imagination kicked into high gear.  Somehow I came to 1 of 4 conclusions each ending with his death due to awful driving, being hard of hearing, or just being old.

After 4hrs of coming to my worst conclusions I called his hotel, the hospitals in the surrounding area, and the airline to see if he changed his flight.  No such luck.  He had checked out but did not tell anyone where he had gone.  About 4 days later his son came around asking where he was and I had to fess up that I had booked him and Barb (the woman he went on a date with) on a trip to California and they had not returned.  After my verbal lashing from his late 50's son I felt guilty and awful that something had happened to him.  It wasn't until exactly one week later that I got a post card the same day he showed back up to our apartment building.  He said he was "living it up" and had decided to take a ride on Highway 1 up along the coast and would be flying back from San Francisco.  The guy who didn't want to go anywhere was now taking road trips.  When we finished discussing his trip I said "Well now it's my turn to tell you that you almost gave me a heart attack!"  His response "Don't worry about me.  Worry about finding a boyfriend...did you meet anyone while I was gone?"