I've Been RAK'd

I wasn't quite sure what to post today, it's been a strange couple of very emotional days. Something happened today that was very postive so I thought it best to post this. I do know that I have some very understanding friends that are helping me through a lot of my stuff at this time, and I thank them.

First, I have to give a little background. We bought a house in NY State a little over 2 years ago. It needed (and still needs) some work. We have an above ground pool that is over 30 years old. There was no filter or pump or fixens, the water was so gross in it too. I have a friend from my HS days (that I was arrested with as a teenager for smoking pot) who's been living in this area for a number of years, and his father owned a pool business and he (Rick) has run it for many years. When I needed supplies, I stopped by to see him. I hadn't seen him in a while so it was great to catch up on old times, etc. He set me up with a pool filter that could filter a pool 5 times the size of ours, plus the pump and everything else. He was giving it to me for cost which I didn't expect and was real nice of him. He also let me borrow this pump to empty my pool, and set me up with a water delivery on a sunday so we would be ready for summer. I didn't pay him at the time, we were sinking money into the house like crazy and he said it could wait. We got a lot of use out of the pool the first year. However, over the winter, the liner blew out and we lost all of the water, plus the wooden sides were bulging and need to be fixed. Well, last Feb, I was diagnosed with cancer. I had stopped by to get some info on how best to fix the pool and we started talking. I told him about what was going on with me and he shared an experience with me that I vaguely remember hearing about. It seems that a few years ago, while skiing out west with his wife and brother and his wife, Rick slammed into a tree. He was knocked out and had an 'out of body' experience. He told me how he remembered being up in the air, looking down at himself with everyone looking over him. He said, fuck this, I'm not ready to go, and suddenly was concious and being a ski patrol guy, knew the condition he was in and told everyone what to do to help him. He was airlifted off the mountain and was flown to a trauma unit in Idaho. He was in the hospital for months, had brain surgery and leg surgery. He was very lucky to be alive. I was amazed at hearing this and we have felt a comradery ever since. He's always been a very positive person who has helped me snap out of the funks I sometimes find myself in. Anyway...last summer when my pool was not usable, he offered advice on how to best fix it. My brother and I ripped all of the old siding out, bought plywood to fix it, tried out hardest and basically didn't know what the hell we were doing. We didn't get it finished by summer's end. The chemo made it hard, plus my brother lives in the city. So, the end of September rolls around and I am in Sloan Kettering, getting 60% of my liver removed, a piece or my colon, my gallbladder out and a pump installed under my skin. It sucked big time, but that's another post. While I was in the hospital, Rick sent some of his workers over and undid what my brother and I had done, did it the right way, put a new liner in and had the pool filled. He asked my wife not to say anything to me. When I got home, after 16 days at Sloan, I had a 'new' pool. I could not believe it. I cried. Fast forward to today...Thursday of last week, I got an invoice from his company for the filter and stuff we got over 2 years ago. I had felt uncomfortable with not having paid him and then, what he did for me last fall was too nice. I went there today to clear my bill ($1175.00) He was surprised to see me, I would pop in and we'd BS and he'd ask how I was, etc. So I brought up that I wanted to clear my account and he was surprised that I had gotten an invoice. So he went over the numbers and knocked it down to $450.00. Then he said he couldn't take money from me. I did not go down there expecting this at all. I had gotten him a website last year, but he's been too busy to supply me with any info for it so it's just sort of a splash page with a photo and phone number on it. I offered my services to him last year and again now. I am now his web slave.
Rick's an amazing guy, always was, always will be......