In 2008, life got especially real for me, and I ended up in the Chicago area for a time before my first of two brain bleeds. It was there that I met my friend Claude. The circumstances aren’t especially important, but Claude was a dear friend for two weeks before I ended up at Mercy hospital with a blood clot. (Also pre brain bleed #1.)Claude was a drug addict who’d been in and out of jail many times for convictions related to his disease. He, along with about 8 I guess other fellas, took me under their wing and showed me the ropes of Chicago. Claude and I watched Family Guy regularly, and these men shared food with me that they didn’t want during the week when a woman cooked that didn’t seem to care what she fed us. Particularly me who ate really strangely. 💁🏼♀️ I have never had such unseasoned food in the entirety of my life. Or as many veggie trays….They pulled out my chair and woke me for meals, and we shared lots of books. Anyway, back to Claude….I have thought of him often through the years. But today he’s been on my mind. I wonder if he’s alive. I wonder if he’s spent more time inside. I wonder if he kicked heroin to the curb forever. I’ll never know the answers to these statements. I hope God has blessed each of those gentleman in their lives for being kind to 2008 Lisa as she got her first taste of the real world, and because they’re His and they wanted to change.
Looking back on 2008, it seems like a different world. And it was compared to this one. I look forward to the day, whether it be in this life or the next, when Gods children love each other and recognize that we are equal. We could all stand to be more like Claude in the United States and around the world.