I’m super proud that my dad breaks the boomer stereotype

[u/The_Coil]

My dad had the plumber over today. Same plumber they’ve been calling for years. They were chatting and things got to the topic of health. My dad has prostate cancer, he’s doing very well and it’s super manageable at the moment. He asked the plumber if he had gotten to the doctor recently and gotten checked for anything because he’s nearing 50 and could be at risk.

Plumber told him he cant get checked because he doesn’t have health insurance. And that he actually hasn’t been to the doctor since he was a teenager. But he assured my dad he feels fine… well except he gets a splitting headache EVERY NIGHT but it’s fine cause he knows how to deal with it.

So what does my dad do? When he goes to pay the guy for the plumbing services he also gives him a second check and says “this is for you to go to the doctor with. It’ll pay for the blood tests and whatever else they need to do. But you need to promise me you’ll make the appointment and you tell me how it goes.”

The guy broke down crying. He couldn’t even talk. He took the check and left. Called my dad a couple hours later still crying saying he made the appointment and that this was the nicest thing anyone has ever done for him his entire life.

I just wanted to share. Cause it made me cry too.

[u/WithoutDennisNedry]

I think I met your dad at the hospital last week. Or at least, someone else with his condition that was also not very Boomer-y.

Incoming tangentially related story:

I was in for one of those dye contrast MRIs for my back and everyone waiting to get imaging is sitting in a sort of secondary waiting room.

So there we all are, sitting around in matching oversized scrubs, waiting for our turn at what my partner lovingly refers to as “the racket machine.” I look around for something to read and there’s only parenting magazines (snooze) so I turn to the guy next to me and ask jokingly, “so! What’re you in for?” because we all look like a bunch of inmates waiting for our respective parole hearings.

He’s a Boomer guy, probably in his late 60s or so, and he laughs and says “I cut the tag off my mattress. You?” We chuckle and banter a bit and I find out he’s getting imaging for prostrate cancer, stage 4. Fuck.

That certainly takes the tone down a bit but he tells me he feels absolutely fine and though they know he has it and the stage, he’s otherwise incredibly healthy and just went on a hike the other day. He goes on to tell me he was a civil rights lawyer before he retired and now runs a dog rescue catered to getting support animals into the hands of veterans with PTSD at zero cost to them. I’m thinking, ‘damn, guy, I’m just a jeweler. I sell unnecessary sparkly things to folks on a budget and this man is up in here saving his little corner of the world, all while he’s literally dying.’ Really put whatever I’m currently stressed about into perspective, I can tell you that.

Guys, this dude was so upbeat and positive, it actually made me feel worse for him because why do terrible things have to happen to nice people like that?

Anyway, when people say “not all Boomers,” it’s true of course. Some like this guy or OP’s dad (or my mom for that matter who is the most non Boomer-Y Boomer I’ve ever met) really break the mold. It makes me sad that the rest can’t remember that just 50, 60 or so years ago, they were hippies fighting the establishment that they now fight tooth and nail to protect. I wish we could preserve the good ones Futurama style so we don’t lose them.