Mario called me tonight.
We talked for about 20 minutes. He is out of the hospital and stayed with a friend from his military days, in Springfield, Mass. He is heading home tomorrow morning, and is going to therapy in the afternoon, and he said he will get together with me for supper after that, so I will give you an update tomorrow evening, after we meet.
I asked him if I could give anyone on the forum your residence address, and he said I can give you people any info I want to about him, because he feels like you are all his family. However, I will still be discreet somewhat, because I don't want to be a nosy body, plus I want to respect conditions of annonimity on the forum. I will send p.m.'s to 3 members, of my choosing. Sorry, I just don't want to have him bombarded with lots of phone calls, and mail at his residence address, but will share this info with some of the members, in case it is needed in the future. I don't want to be the only one that can contact him, if he needs to be contacted again.
I told him to check his mail at the post office, because forum members are going to send him cards. Use that address for cards, please. I didn't mention anything about money, because I know he'd be upset. He's a very proud man. However, I think it's a good idea to send him whatever you can, because he says he borrowed some money from his sister, to keep up his phone bill. Try to send it annonymous, if you can, so he won't feel obliged to pay everyone back. If you can't, it's okay too, I would think. I will be writing down a few things to ask him, because if I don't, I will probably forget to ask him, like if he has a paypal account, and how can we send in contributions to it.
He says he doesn't feel like working, or doing anything right now. He is still very down. I mentioned to him about going to Italy for a while, to rest up, and clear his thoughts. I also told him I'm not a therapist, and I don't have all the answers for him, but wish I did. He said he understands, and it's okay. He is thinking about what to do next. He says Italy sounds good, but he doesn't want to let the house go. He sounds a little more positive, but again, I'm not a therapist.
So, everyone (well, not everyone).. give me some thoughts that I need to ask him, and I'll see if I can bring it up when I see him tomorrow. I sure hope he shows, this time. The last time I was supposed to meet him, he didn't. I'm not good with words, so help me out here, if you can.
I will give a few members his phone number, and residence address. Please don't be hurt if I don't p.m. you with this info. I will p.m. probably 3 members with this, so in case it's needed again, some of you will have it. These people can tell you if they got it, if they want to. That will be up to them, not me. Thanks, for understanding.
Now, I have to start my list.
I just got a good idea. Someone start a new post saying "A MESSAGE TO MARIO", and maybe a few of you can write some good thoughts in it, and I'll print it out and have him read it, or I'll read it to him. What do you think? Because If you put it in THIS post, it will take me all night and 500 papers to print it out. LOL !!
Not too many, now. Maybe a limit of 15 or 20 people, with 30 words or less each. If there's too much, he won't read all of it. sound like a plan? If anyone has another idea, I'm all ears. I won't print this out until around 3:30 p.m. easternt time, tomorrow, so you have plenty of time to say a few words before that.
I still want some info in this post, to get ideas on what to say to him. so let's get busy, friends. I'm waiting.... Thanks, guys. (and girls) You are the greatest !!!!!
Hubert