Harsh Realities

Sweet, sweet Michelle and I

Tonight at the stadium was pretty normal, a few new people but mostly just a regular night.  La Chimbomba started off normal, a little slow, but it picked up quickly.  At this point there is little that suprises me with our homeless friends but tonight I was blown away.  Occasionally we have people come and say they don't want to eat and they just hang around.  That's what happened with Jenny tonight.  Jenny is Dulce's mom, I've talked about her a few times in this blog.  Something was obviously wrong with Jenny.  She sat down a ways down the block from us and just looked really depressed.  The boys had things covered so I went and sat down with her to see if I could figure out what the problem was.  A local taxi driver that was obviously a friend was playing with Dulce.  Jenny had a hard day today.  She wasn't able to get enough money begging to buy Dulce's diapers and was obviously feeling really overwhlemed.  I think there was probably more going on there but the diapers were the target of the depression.  I cannot imagine the stress of trying to raise a baby on the streets by begging from strangers, but I did connect with the feeling of being overwhelmed by life.  I think we all go through that at times.  As I was sitting down with Jenny the taxi driver brought Dulce over and said that she was hungry.  Jenny was still pretty upset so I went to get Dulce a plate of rice and beans which, come to find out, we had just run out of.  Maniqueso, one of the guys who is always very stoned but also very helpful, asked me what I was doing and told him I was trying to find some food for Dulce.  Maniqueso has no relationship with Jenny and Dulce but he took his plate and handed it to me and told me to give it to her.  I said we should split it and began to put half of the food into another bowl.  I put one scoop in and he stopped me and said that was plenty.  I was very overwhelmed by his eagerness to give away what was probably his only meal today.  It was definitely a touching moment for me to once again realize that I give from my overabundance but he was giving all that he had. 

Afterwards we took Dulce and Jenny to get some diapers and a few food essentials.  It was a good night but very emotional.

Sweet, sleeping puppies who woke up to the flash.  The love to sleep on top of each other.