His background is that of a upper-middle class Sikh whose father owned a garment factory in India. The entire family migrated to Canada about thirty years ago. The father was over one hundred when he died in Canada, leaving the rest of his family fairly well enough off, and mourning his passing. When we met 23 years ago, our neighbour who lived six houses up the street from our new home, came over to introduce himself.

He wasn't working at the time. He was on an extended sick leave. And he didn't look particularly well. He looked pale and frail, his beard almost pure white, and I thought he must have been in his late 60s, perhaps early 70s back then. So I was quite surprised when we eventually met his wife, a charming and lovely looking woman who couldn't have been older than her late 30s, and who back then often wore traditional Indian garb which accentuated her dusky beauty.

Their two children were young, the little boy just out of his infancy, a perfect specimen of sweetness in a child that his older sister shared with their exquisite features and bodily perfection shared. Not to mention their shy good manners. The little boy is now a university graduate as is his sister. He is single, she is married, and has two very young children of her own, each child with that same delicate appearance of physical perfection.

Our neighbour was far younger than I had thought him to be. We eventually discovered that he suffered from depression. But he had also had an accident that caused him to have surgery that hadn't solved his problem, and was repeated, still to no avail. He lost his job decades ago. He worked for a short while in the service industry, but 'short while' is the operative there. He's been a homebody for as long as I can recall, now.

Their son, who still lives with them, is always at his father's side. Being physically incapacitated had never stopped our neighbour from ambitious designs to do things. "Doing things" that one might never have expected from someone of his background, like laying ceramic tile in kitchen and bathrooms, and all manner of other household upgrades that appealed to him. Some things he did on his own, managing to overcome physical obstacles through sheer determination, while others he managed with the help of his son.

His daughter, now living in Toronto with her own little family, calls upon her parents often to share the burden of raising two small children, while she herself is a professional as is her husband. They drive up from Toronto to spend weekends with her parents, doting grandparents to the two adorable children who attend Montessori preschool, and are already able to speak both French and English.

Every once in a while, our neighbour drives to Toronto when his daughter is too stretched for time and exhausted from the calls upon her as a young professional to stretch her resources any further in the care of the children. And when he is there, he looks after both small children, with good humour and ample love and devotion. Occasionally the young couple will depart the scene entirely, get away for a few days or a week, to temporarily detach themselves from responsibilities and childcare.

Our neighbour, and his wife who has continued working in a professional field while her husband has remained at home, occasionally drive to Toronto together and then take on the temporary role of childcare. Now that's adaption, versatility and a sterling example what cherishing the worthwhile things in life produces.