LETTER TO THE EDITOR: A ‘thank you’ to Bobby Miller, who helped a friend so many years ago

To the Editor:
About 20 years ago a friend of ours brought his son over to our house. His son had recently had an operation that left him partly paralyzed from the waist down.   While we were sitting on our porch looking at our boats I noticed that he had such a wistful look on his face and I asked him if he would like to go out in the boat. He was thrilled, and said he would love to. We took his wheelchair down to the dock, I got into the boat and his father and my husband lowered him into the boat. I caught him, but he was such a dead weight I almost went backwards out of the boat. I realized immediately that we would not be able to get him out, as none of us were strong enough to lift him.
I told my husband that I did not want to go out in the boat and would see them later. I came back into the house and thought of all our friends who could help, most of them being around 80 years old. I did not have much success finding anyone.
I then thought of Bobby Miller, who had been working on our house. I called him up and explained my problem. He understood immediately and told me to go and sit on the porch in front of my house, and to call him as soon as I saw the boat coming in under the bridge.  
I sat there for about an hour before I saw the boat coming in, and I called Bobby. In about three minutes he arrived with three young men, and as the boat came in my husband was surprised to see Bobby on the dock. He asked what he was doing there, and Bobby mumbled something about the air conditioner.  When the boat docked, two young men stepped into the boat and lifted the man out, and Bobby and the other man put him in his wheelchair. It went so smoothly, I was amazed.   Not to mention, the man who was in the wheelchair was beaming, he had so enjoyed being out in the boat.
Later I stopped to see Bobby and told him to bill me for a service call for the three men who came to my house. Bobby looked at me and said, “I would not dream of charging you, any one of us could be in the same position and we were very glad to help.”
Not only have I used Grand Aire for years, they do exceptionally good work. I will forever be grateful to Bobby for being so incredibly kind.      
Belinda Bender
Boca Grande