That one kid, you know, the one that was a little slow →[More:]So by random chance I looked at the neighborhood where I grew up on Realtor.com and saw the house across the street from my parents' house was on the market. I used to play with the kid that grew up there. He was a little developmentally challenged but pretty much a good kid, and we all used to play together. He was okay, just a little slow. When he was grown, and my mom had a slip and fall in the driveway (and broke her leg), Bobby was the first person to find her and call 911.

So with the house up for sale I looked Bobby up on Facebook. I found him. I saw that his mom passed away in May, which is why the house was up for sale (his dad passed quite a while ago). I sent him a friend request and he was really happy to hear from me. He's had a tough year. His mom died in May, his dog died the next day, and his older sister died a month later. He's had a rough go of it.

On the plus side, he's living in an assisted living place, has a life coach and an art teacher. The art thing is significant. Besides a menial labor job he has through a charity agency, he makes money as an artist, and has written 3 children's books that will be hitting the market soon. He actually started a charitable foundation where proceeds of his art sales go to help other people with developmental disabilities.

It was really kind of neat reconnecting with someone I knew when I was a kid and haven't heard from in a long time (like almost 40 years). And I have to admit that I'm amazed and proud of the progress he's made in the world.