I met a fellow in my neighborhood by happenstance. We happened to be crazy similar. He was really cool.

I felt bad not really getting around to checking in on him more often. I was shy and afraid of what I didn't know, or making a fool of myself. But damnit he was a really cool guy...

Occasionally I'd catch him with his garage door open and we'd have a chat. (You gotta understand, nobody interacts in this neighborhood.) We met because I was out running in the rain like a crazy guy (we rarely get rain lol) and HE decided to introduce himself to me as I ran by his house LOL.

So anyway...I saw he hadn't responded to my Merry Christmas text.

...And just a week ago or so I got a text from his wife that he had passed away from an aneurysm 4 months prior.

When I brought her flowers for him, she told me he had said that he thought. . .that I was very cool. . .

Why I'm sharing this:

I know it's awkward sometimes trying to make new friends as an adult, but also it's foolish to simply assume tomorrow is guaranteed. Do that hangout. Plan the game night. Talk about random stuff in the backyard. Whatever.

You will never regret more time spent in fellowship and good company.

I would have been a really good friend to him if I just reached out more...

The loneliness epidemic is absolutely real, and this isolating society is killing us all by design and it breaks my heart.

That is all.

Agreed

But dude should check in with his wife if he's just gonna not come home suddenly

Hey, wanna hang out?

The real story is the women setting up their husbands with each other 🥰

Ngl I remember even highschool being a hell for making friends because there was this 70% they will turn out to be andrew tate fans after.

Beautiful. Go Niners

Didn't even kidnap her.

And they say chivalry is dead.

That seems kind of like the standard procedure around here (Germany) too. When you sell something online, the expectation is always that the buyer comes to the sellers house to pick up the item. I've never seen anyone do that "let's meet at this random parking lot" thing americans tend to do.

That's why she brought her baby. No one is going to kidnap someone with a baby. To much hassle.

You got the baby though, right?

Didn't kidnap her yet. Now you know her address for a later date, without the pretext to incriminate you! I'm onto you, pal

My neighbor was selling something, the person came over but either didn’t get it or saw something he liked became they came back and broke into their house to get it.

That is what the story is about, yes, women have a fear of harm from men. I assume you know why.

Almost like women have different, valid, fears than men

Apparently women are.

a moth wrote this comment

I'm a burly, bearded, outdoorsy dude, and you can describe a lot of my friends in a similar way.

Once upon a time, one such friend had a few trees on his property that needed to come down (damaged by storms, emerald ash borer, etc,) so he made a decision to have a "lumberjack day"

The plan was simple, we'd all show up with axes and saws and other implements of destruction and cut down these trees and chop them up to manageable sizes.

We also all kind of had the same idea that we'd show up in flannel shirts and suspenders in hopes that our one friend (coincidentally my now-wife, though we had not yet even begun to think about dating) who was sort of our unofficial group photographer, would show up with our camera, and we could get some cool shots of us being rugged badasses and maybe a group picture.

Sadly, she had to work that day, so no pictures exist.

I decided for this occasion that I wanted a big ol' double-bit felling axe. It just seemed appropriate.

Now I could have gotten one from a hardware store if I just wanted a prop, but I did want an actual usable axe. Most new axes you can easily get your hands on these days just aren't that great unless you're willing to shell out some decent money (they're not outlandishly expensive, but certainly more than I could afford at the time as a 20-something pizza guy)

Which meant that I'd be looking for a used axe. This was something I'd already been keeping my eye out for at yard sales and flea markets and such but unfortunately I was coming up empty. So with Lumberjack Day fast-approaching, I turned to craigslist.

And sure enough, I found a guy selling axes. Quite a lot of axes in fact, I suspect this guy had been snatching them up from the same flea markets I'd been hunting at before I got a chance. He'd clean them up, hang a new handle if needed, and sell them. His sharpening skills left a bit to be desired, but I'm handy enough with a file and whetstone so that didn't matter.

We exchanged some messages, he sent me some pics of what he had, and we arranged a time for me to swing over to his house to buy an axe from him.

So one Sunday morning I swerved over to his house, not thinking to tell anyone where I was going.

From the pictures he sent, I kind of thought he had these axes in a shed or garage.

Instead when I went there and knocked on his front door he invited me inside and told me the axes were in his basement.

I step inside his living room, and this man had no furniture.

We go down into the basement, and every wall and float surface is covered in axes (and some similar hand tools- hammers, hoes, picks, shovels, etc)

I think this may have been some kind of serial killer's lair.

But, luckily, I did not get axe-murdered that day. Instead I checked out his wares, handed him $60, and walked out with a rather nice vaughan axe that was probably from around the '60s

Took it out to my car, sat there for a minute considering my life choices, and went on my merry way.

Then a week or two later I put that axe to good use at lumberjack day. It's a good axe, I still have it and find some good excuses to use it from time-to-time.

So anyway, he may possibly be a serial killer, but I do recommend Craigslist Andrew if you ever need to buy a decent used axe at a fair price.

I also choose the gay bear

But then the bear would still have to be afraid of honeypots

*Rolls dice, and passes a perception check*

Hey wait a minute... you're not some lady's husband - y-you're a BEAR!

But what if it’s actually a man pretending to be a bear?