Words + Images

I can’t quite remember how Steve and I first met Jim and Lily his beagle. It was during the pandemic. Perhaps as we walked past his house and he was outside tinkering on his car. A seemingly forever project for him. A connection was made somehow and he came to our aid many a time unasked. There was a host of electrical work which made sense given that that was his profession. But then there were those other things like the time I texted him to ask if he might stop by the house to help Steve finish baking some bread. Jim was a strong fellow who could lift the heavy mixer and things that Steve could not do. And then there was the time I called Jim from the back of a taxi. Steve and I had just left the ER and I feared an exhausted Steve could not make it up the spiral staircase. In the end it took more than Jim to get Steve up the stairs but he was there, a companion, along on the journey. As he lost weight, I knew he was ill and then became still more ill. One day I did ask him, why are you helping Steve so much? He replied with that sparkle in his eyes, I’ve done a lot of things in this life that I need to account for by giving back. When I walked by his house months ago and saw people clearing things out I hoped that he was safe somewhere with family. I have recently thought about him often especially on recent Monday mornings as I look out the window at the curb, then sigh, and struggle to bundle up, take out the trash and/or recycling and then drag the dumpsters to the curb before the city trucks go by. When Jim was walking Lily on a Sunday evening he would often drag out the dumpsters. He not only looked out for Steve. I don’t know why I did it last night but I did. I looked him up and found what I was expecting to see some day. His obituary as written by his loving family. I am grateful to have made his acquaintance. https://www.dohertyfuneralservice.com/obituary/james-cafferky-jr