From November of 2003 until May of 2009 I ran an independent living facility for seniors over the age of 62 and/or disabled individuals. That was almost six years of my life living on site and devoted to the residents.  In that time, I met a number of different residents.

Lloyd was one of those residents.  He was unique in personality and brilliant. It was disguised by age. He certainly made his impression in my life and now the empty spot where he was.

Lloyd grew up and went to school in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He went into the navy. And after serving got out and got his degree in liberal arts. He was a musician and an artist. He worked as a window dress in some of the largest cities at some of the most premier companies in the world, including Neaman Marcus.

Through his travels and adventures life brought him to my facility in his elderly years. He was smart, funny, and could carry on a great conversation. He was a self described, “curmudgeon.”

Lloyd did not like me when he first met me. I was the assistant in the beginning. I was younger then the residents really liked and that alone made me an outsider. Lloyd came into the office a few times to complain about things, though I can’t remember the actual complaints now, i do remember the rather coarse raking over the coals I received. Lloyd spoke his mind, told me what he thought and left.

Lloyd did not return to the office for some time. When he did, it was right after the mail ran one day late in the week. I had put my opera in the CD drive and was listening to it. I had turned it up a little louder then normal because of all the residents congregating outside the office at the mailboxes. It made it impossible to hear the music. That was about the time Lloyd put his head in my doorway. He stood there for a moment i guess before I realized he was there. I apologized for having the music to loud and turned it down. He immediately told me to turn it back up. It was a selection from the marriage of Figaro. I did and we listened.

He said thank you and left. The next morning he showed up at my office door with a VHS tape. He told me to watch it, it was a better version then I had on CD and it was sub tittle. I will never forget it.