"Where's Waldo........."

Good Afternoon;

I ran into an old friend who later turned into a next door neighbor this morning...(Hi D'vora), and that reminded me that with all the new people who I have met who have helped me in so many ways, that there are a few, (a very few), folks from before I ended up on the streets this trip who have still stuck with me and to whom I must also acknowledge a debt of Gratitude to. There is one common thread that links all these people, a pure and untainted strain of non judgemental acceptance, that looks at 'the cake.....not the frosting', to use an expression I heard for the first time yesterday, but which is appropriate here also. They my not like or agree with some of the decisions and choices one makes, but they allow their opinions to be framed by depth rather than superficiality.

So, thanks Mordecai B. and Barry C. and Yitzi, and AnnaMarie and her 3 girls, who have all come through with a meal , or a bath, or a floor, or more importantly, an ear, or a shoulder, or at times, a good-cold-hard dose of needed reality, flavored with compassion, yet not watered down with sympathy. Sometimes that is what I/we on the street need to step back, take a look, and be goaded or prodded into taking that first scary leap off of the precipice, into unknown territory for us......our own fears and motives and denials. Lotta false starts sometimes, but these are the folks who didn't give up, or give in....because they did give a damn.

This is another case where I can only speak for sure of my own experience, but can extrapolate, through conversations with some, and the demented mutterings of others, that in most cases, at one point, there was a crucial person or persons, whose support or lack thereof helped to determine the course their lives went. The degree of change may have been extremely minute at the time, but the change in vector can increase exponentially over a period of years. That one word of encouragement you give, or the chance you create for someone to feel worthwhile and useful. The opportunity to bathe or shave can change one's complete outlook 180 degrees. Do what you can to simply make us feel that we are not simply discarded people, it is not a need to be nticed that can make or break a soul...but the need to be considered "Not Invisible".

I kinda rambled and twisted a bit there...sorry...but I've got a limited amount of 'net time..and a bad case of "male PMS...aka....CRS....'can't remember sh*t!!!'.........(so maybe that wasn't PC..ya gotta admit it's funny......LOL)

We all know the effect(affect?) the weather can have on our mood, imagine if you are the one who has to hole up in a doorway or under a bridge during one of these spring storms for hours at a time, the sheer mindnumbing boredom of waiting, and 'wandering around inside your own head', if you run into someone homeless, who seems capable, a few minutes intelligent conversation can do wonders for one's self esteem, and possibly open up an avenue of escape for someone too.

It's amazing how many people equate homeless with stupid, you'd be surprised I leave folks saying things like but how do you know about...[insert subject]...your homeless?, and then watching the realization dawn that, maybe not everyone out here is 100% out of it...LOL.

Time is runing out...may be back tonight...Dave

Oh Yeah...By the way WE DO NOT KNOW EACH AND EVERY OTHER HOMELESS PERSON OUT THERE!!!!!!......had a woman ask me last night.."Where's Patrick"..and when I told her I do not know him...she got very offended and INSISTED!! that I was lying......LOL!!!