A lot of past Thanksgivings I was living on the street. Each year I went to the So Other Might Eat house for a Thanksgiving meal.
When I was a kid, I had two sisters and five foster sisters. We all lived in a foster home on Emerson Street. I stayed in that big white house into my adulthood, until my mom passed. She wasn’t my real mom, but I called her mom and stayed with her till she passed at age 83. I was 39 years old at the time.
The other girls were gone way before that. They got married, had children, and moved to different states. I didn’t have anywhere to go, so she kept me and I helped her out cleaning the house, taking out the trash — things like that.
During meals we would watch TV or talk. I learned from mom what to do in life when I got out on my own. She would tell me she loved me and I loved her too. She felt like she was my real mom.
On Thanksgiving I helped her cook turkey dinner. Everyone helped when all the sisters were there. Mom missed that after everybody scattered.
I miss that whole family I was living with. But still I enjoy Thanksgiving. It’s usually with whoever shows up at S.O.M.E.
I have two people I feel close to now. One is named Alice. She came to visit me yesterday unexpectedly on Van Ness Ave., where I was selling the paper. We met because she bought Street Sense one day.
I have another friend, but she has a hard name that I can’t remember. I also met her selling Street Sense.I see her every day.
It means a lot to me that I met these two friends because of Street Sense!
