I ain't rich, but Lord I'm free

It's so rare that I ever become starstruck about anything these days, but it happened the other day, quite unexpectedly. One of the residents currently occupying the hospice, I'll call him F., is the son of a pretty well-known musician. F. was a model in the 80's, and appeared in several films, and knows a lot of people. (He showed me his portfolio the other day and it was pretty crazy.)

When I went into F.'s room the other night, I noticed a new photo he had on his night table. It was a photograph of a man, taken at a party or something, wearing a cowboy hat. I said, "Is that George Strait?" F. smiled and said it was, and said they were friends, and had known each other since they were 6 or 7 years old. Of course I minorly freaked out, and said, "Do you think he'd come play my next birthday party? I have a really nice backyard." I guess F. took me sort of seriously and said, "Oh, he barely plays out anymore at all these days, since his daughter died."

Admittedly, I know absolutely nothing about George Strait's personal life, or if he's even really from Texas, and I kind of prefer it that way. But of course this picqued my interest. F. said that George had lived in San Marcos for years and years, but he had a teenage daughter that died in a car wreck in 95 or 96, and after that, George and his wife couldn't bear to keep living in the house where they'd raised her, so they sold it and moved to San Antonio. And he mostly stopped touring after that.



...

I really like the house right now. Everyone there really seems to like me. They greet me so warmly whenever I come in, and everytime I leave, they always ask when I'm coming back. Even the one that last week I had to call the cops on (that's a whole other story) and who called me a "fucking spoiled rich kid" told me a few days later that I was his favorite person that worked there. When I was leaving today, he said, "If you stay longer, I'll pay you with my own money." Another resident told me she loved me, and said, "You treat me so fantastic and make me feel better." They're sweet.