Bob lives in an assisted living facility. I’ve been seeing him monthly for almost a year. He likes to Google old friends from high school. Using their names and key information like profession, spouse’s name, or where they lived, we’ve been fortunate to find some. It was a big day when we found his high school baseball coach.
Last week he had three friends to Google but we just couldn’t find them. The names were too common and he didn’t have much other info. He was disappointed, hung his head, and sighed, “We used to work on my dad’s car together.” Yes!, I thought, I can do something with that. I asked him, “What kind of car did your dad have?”
He looked at me, not understanding why I would ask. I asked again. He replied,“It was a ’54 Buick. Red.”
I told him to type it in the Search bar. He still didn’t understand why I was asking. “Bob, just do it for me, please,” I said.
He did and up popped a glorious, shiny red Buick. He leaned forward in his chair, smiling. He made a sound I could only describe as a guffaw – just one burst of laughter. “That’s it!”
He pointed out how the trim rounded over the back wheel well and how the angle changed over the years. He smiled when he saw fuzzy dice hanging from the rearview mirror. Then he took a few moments just to sit and look at the Buick in all its glory.
Did we find the friends he was looking for that day? No. But we did find memories he hadn’t thought of in years.