Susan Died

When I first met Susan, she was destitute, or so she told me. I considered her that way because she had nothing except a young daughter about thirteen years old. They had decided to do a "girls day out" for the day, and they wanted to take a hay ride for Halloween that evening to make it complete. It cost about $12.00 and she didn't have the money. She asked the social worker if the town could help. It turned out that the town couldn't, but we could. I had been given some tickets for people like her to go for free.

Susan told me about what they had done up to the point of our discussion. They had lunch together at home and given each other facials with Elmer's glue. They put it all over their faces and then peeled it off, giggling the whole time. She even asked me to inspect her skin to see how beautiful it was. She had nice skin, but I was sure that Elmer's would not advise anyone to do this kind of facial. I giggled with them, while quietly stepping outside my comfortable box.

Sue took her daughter on the hayride and called me the next day to thank me for the wonderful gift. I made sure I thanked the people that had donated those tickets and told them that they made some children very happy.

Sue's life went down hill from there. She ended up a drug addict, an alcoholic, and put her daughter through some of the worst years I've seen. I don't know where her daughter is anymore, last I heard, she was a drug addict too at 21.

I learned to dislike Sue. I hated what she did to herself and what she did to the precious life she gave. Her daughter was taken away from her at times when things really got bad, but it didn't help.

So now Sue has died, I think she was 51. I wonder if her daughter misses her. I pray that her daughter now find a healthy kind of love. I pray that she is able to get some help and learn that her life is important and means much more than what she was taught.

Until next time: may you know in your heart that you make a difference everyday.