Thanksgiving morning: Wife comes back from store with last minute foodstuffs, and a tale of no heat in the truck. I get a gallon of antifreeze and pour it in, and watch the stuff slowly pool up under the truck. Got ya a nice leak there, son. Ugh.

As I know very little about automotive repair, of course I panic. I have family coming from near and far, it's freezing out, and I'm fixing to be stranded for awhile.My bro says, let's call Aaron; he's living in a halfway house and will work on anything for a very small amount of cash. Full disclosure: This guy is very smart, and was a marine. Now, only a shell of himself thanks to addiction. He was helping us rehab a house in October, when he got the call that his girlfriend was found dead, overdosed, in an East Toledo alley. Guy is now serious about sobriety; sad way to get there.

If you're still reading, thanks, there's more. I offered him a small amount to just come figure out what I needed to do. In 5 minutes he tells me the upper radiator hose is leaking. O'Reillys closes at 5, we arrive a 4:40. 114 dollars later, a new foot and a half of radiator hose. This guy gets my truck going again. Thankful, I am. I invited him in to eat and between my bro and me, we scraped up some more cash to give him. Most of my guests had already left, but my wife took pictures.

Two days prior to Thanksgiving, the guy, and friend, I've gotten my weed from for a quarter century was found dead. OD'd in his bedroom. I never knew him to do anything but psychedelics and weed, but my bro told me he recently started smoking crack.