When I can, how I can

My friend in Key West has fallen upon very hard times. After more than a decade as a professor, he was let go because of campus politics and a lack of funding from the state of FL. This past school year he's been under-employed, teaching two Spanish classes at a charter high school. Their school year is over and they fired him. Apparently he was too hard-assed for the school administrators, who he believes caved in to parents who wanted their kids to get high grades whether they deserved them or not.

I don't care what happened, really. I just know that if they're gonna be assholes and insist he was fired, then he won't get unemployment.

So now he's a security guard in a museum gift shop. And he has a cold. And his arm is in a sling because he fell off his bike. And he's about to turn 50 ... OK, not for 7 months. But, as Meg Ryan said of 40 in When Harry Met Sally, "it's out there."

He's broke. He's draining his 401(k). He's scared.

He's always been a good friend to me. When it looked like my mom might die, he was ready to hop on a plane to be here with me ... just because I asked him to.

So today I picked up a gift card for him that's good at his pharmacy of choice. Besides, in addition to meds, you can get just about anything at a drug store. He can use it for laundry detergent or dog food for all I care.

I just know it's a privilege to help him when I can and how I can. Because he's a great guy.