Perpetual Ruminations

Life is Short

I've been pondering some news my wife and I received last evening, and I have been contemplating if I should write about it or not. As you can see, I decided to write a bit about this. I'm an introvert and I deal with grief, loss, pain, and suffering internally, but I am also a writer and writing is how I let things out and contemplate them.

Our neighbor came over yesterday evening to share the news that our landlord has passed away. We moved from a metropolitan area to a place in the country about four years ago, from an apartment complex to a duplex, renting from an older man and his wife. It didn't take long to discover that they were both very wonderful people. Being advanced in years, he couldn't do much for maintenance, so he would hire someone to get it done. Since I'm a bit of a handyman and can do quite a few things, I started just doing most of the repairs instead of calling and bothering him.

It didn't take long for him to find this out, and he not only insisted he pay for materials but for my time as well, and not just a little, he insisted on paying well. He also informed me that if I wanted to make any changes or improvements, to just go ahead and do them, and if it was something needed, to track my time and costs for reimbursement without even questioning if it was needed or not. Of course, I would never take advantage of this, and often times I don't even tell him I fixed something.

But, he is advanced in years and starting to have a difficult time getting around, so he decided to sell the property we and two others rent from him to his son. I had met his son a few times, and let's just say he is a lot like his dad. Shortly after he took over everything, the person on the other side of the duplex moved out and I asked about renting the entire house. He agreed but we would have to pay higher rent. I agreed with that, and soon he was opening up the wall to turn our apartment into an entire house. I should add the rent for the front side was a bit higher than for our side, but he just doubled ours instead of adding the two together.

It hasn't even been a year since we started renting from him and the last I talked to him he was going to pay me to tear the deck off the side of the house, since it's getting a bit rotten, and come spring he was going to get the lumber to rebuild it with my help, which he said he would pay for by the hour, the same as his dad. He also complimented me on how nicely my wife and I had cleaned up the yard and the front of the house, finishing with, "I couldn't ask for better people to rent to."

He seemed to be in good health and was younger than me. He was very active, full of life, and always pleasant to be around, a younger version of his dad. He had also built a nice home that he shared with his parents so he could help them out when needed. Earlier this fall, his uncle purchased a permanent camper with plans for him and his wife to rent a place to set it up and stay during the summers, then return to Arizona in the fall. Our landlord took time off from driving a truck to develop a section of the land our and the neighbor's house sits on for them so they wouldn't have to pay ridiculously high lot rent.

Three days ago he passed away. He was an over-the-road driver and had stopped at a truck stop. When no one could contact them the police were notified and investigated. He was found in the sleeper of his truck and it sounds like he passed in his sleep. We are all feeling the grief of loss, but I cannot begin to imagine what his parents and children are going through.

Currently, we don't know what's going to happen with the property, if it will be sold, or if the parents will continue to rent it out. I know I should be concerned since it's our future hanging in the outcome, but for now, I can only think about what the family is going through.

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"Reading soothes the soul, writing sets it free." T.J.