Day 3-They deserved a parade.

His name is Carl.  Her name is Ruth.  They are neighbors.  I met them in the Spring of 2014 a few months after we moved here and after they returned from wintering in Florida.  They are an interesting couple who married late in life after their first spouses died.  Each is well read and happy to share opinions based on their readings.  And their combined ages come close to two hundred years.  On warm days they sat in their open garage to visit and observe.  I often stopped by and always enjoyed the time I spent with them.  The winter trips to Florida ended shortly after the first ambulance came for Carl.  He came home and the garage visits resumed.  Not too long ago I realized that I hadn't seen either of them for awhile.  Of course they wouldn't have been sitting in their open garage.  It's been too cold for that.  But I hadn't seen any movement in or around their house either.  I have another neighbor who seems to know everything about everyone so I asked her about Carl and Ruth.  "Oh, they moved into assisted living," was the reply.  I felt stunned by this new information about people I never really knew well at all.  I wouldn't have expected any type of contact from them.  But they just seemed to have disappeared from a street on which they had lived for years.  I don't believe anyone should just disappear.  At the very least flyers might have been distributed saying something like, "We're off on another adventure."  A parade with a drum major and trumpets might have escorted them down the street they knew so well and maybe even to their new home.  No one should just disappear without a trace.  Their home is dark now and perhaps in the near future new owners will claim the place as their own to do with it whatever they wish.  For now, though, the home of Carl and Ruth is dark and the garage door is closed.  They deserved a parade and so did we.