Three Wishes for Ruby's Residents

Harley update! Thanks to all of you, Doug Warner, picked up this story and Harley was updated to VIP. His dream came true and he had the best night of his life.
We want to thank the nursing home staff pictured, they did the hard work.
They volunteered their time to make sure this dream came true.
They are the real heroes of this story.

❗️HARLEY UPDATE❗️
Great news! I’m told Walmart AMP saw my post and gave Harley a bump to VIP status tonight for the Bob Dylan show.

Earlier today I posted how at the top of Harley’s wish list, since the 1960’s, is to see Dylan on stage. Last year, Three Wishes for Ruby's Residents secured tickets and took him to a show in Missouri only for it to be cancelled by severe weather just before Dylan took the stage.

But tonight is the night and it all came together. I’m told Dylan doesn’t do backstage and signings, etc, so no signature on his Bob Dylan book. But very happy for Harley, his Harrison, AR nursing home that helped make it happen, Three Wishes, and everyone who shared my post.

Original post ~> https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1R8LNRw9xe/?mibextid=wwXIfr

When I asked Harley what he did for a living, he smiled and said, “I was an adventurer.”
Some people spend their whole lives wishing they had lived a little more freely.
Harley did.

When he was 17, he stuck out his thumb and hitchhiked across America. New York. California. Texas. Minnesota.

Then he crossed into Canada.

Then Mexico.

For nearly a decade he wandered wherever the road took him, taking odd jobs only long enough to pay for the next adventure.

Today, Harley is 75 years old and lives in a nursing home in Harrison, AR.

Years later, in his 40s, he enrolled at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville to study literature. He LOVED stories, writing and the power of words.

Maybe that’s why he fell in love with Bob Dylan.

When I asked why Dylan meant so much to him, his answer came instantly.

“Because he was a poet.”

He told me Bob Dylan was telling stories before there were things like Netflix.
He used music to make people pay attention to injustice & to see the people the world had forgotten. Bob Dylan has had a big impact on his life.

Then his dinner arrived. He used the remote to lift himself up the the bed so he could eat off the tray.

A cheeseburger.
Some fries and a
A Hamm’s beer.

It was such a striking contrast.

Here was a man who once crossed continents with nothing but curiosity and a backpack, now eating supper in a nursing home room.

But there was one thing life hadn’t taken away from him.

Hope.

He’s wanted to see Bob Dylan perform live since 1966.

Last year we thought we’d made that happen. Remember that?

Our charity bought the tickets. His nursing home found staff willing to volunteer their own time to make the trip. They loaded him into a wheelchair van, drove him to Missouri, wheeled him into the venue…

…and just as the concert was about to begin, a violent storm canceled the show before the first song was even sung. Tents flying, ppl scrambling. He was safe but…. Ugh. The disappointment.

Most people would have accepted that it just wasn’t meant to be or “I’m too old or this is too hard”…

Harley never did.

When he learned Bob Dylan was coming to Rogers, Arkansas, he started asking again. He was determined. It’s not even 2 hours away.

He needed another ticket. That was easy.

It is getting there that is the hard part.

He’s over six feet tall.

He’s partially paralyzed.

It takes a wheelchair van, several people, 2 hours of driving, lifting, pushing, patience and a village of caregivers willing to spend their day making someone else’s dream come true, in 100-degree Arkansas heat.

Tomorrow, they’re doing it all again. 7/3/26 at the Walmart Amp in Rogers, Ark.

Harley will be carrying a book containing Bob Dylan’s songs.

He’s hoping, just maybe, that he’ll get the chance to have it signed.

If you’re at the Walmart AMP tomorrow and you happen to notice a very big man in a wheelchair with an even bigger smile…

…that’s Harley.

He’s not just going to a concert.

He’s finishing a story that began nearly sixty years ago.

And if this post happens to find its way to someone at the venue, or even someone on Bob Dylan’s team…

I think they’d enjoy meeting an adventurer.

Harley update- upgraded tickets to VIP! Had the time of his life. Book not signed but he is still the happiest guy on earth that this dream came true.

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