Giving Thanks

Yachats, Oregon

I haven't posted in awhile, sometimes I just run out of ideas. I was walking my dog the other day and I started thinking about all the people I've met over the last year and a half. After living in Santa Maria, California for about 15 years I left and lived in Oregon for about six months, now I'm in Colorado Springs, Colorado. I realized I have met a lot of very kind and interesting people.

Since November is a month for giving thanks I have decided to do a series of blog posts about the people I've met and why I'm thankful for them. Some will be longer than others, some will be quite short as the person passed briefly through my life. I'm not going to name names, I'm just going to talk about the person and what they did.

When I was in Portland, Oregon I had a hard time finding a job (never did manage that) and an affordable place to live. I ended up living in some really inexpensive motel rooms that allowed dogs. One in particular I lived in for a couple of months. I didn't have much money and the only way I had to cook was with a really tiny, old microwave. This place was so awesome someone was shot and killed right outside my door.

Klondike

I was lonely, and depressed and hungry and lacking in a balanced diet. My neighbor, who rented a little, room next to me worked weird hours so I hardly saw him, his room actually had a kitchen and I think he lived there for several years. One day when I was coming back from walking my dog my neighbor was going back to his room and he started talking to me about the shooting. that was the first time we spoke. I saw him a few days later and he invited me and Klondike over for dinner, I accepted. Mind you, no one that lived there had much money, and most were pretty down on their luck. Klondike and I went over that evening and my neighbor had made us celery with peanut butter as appetizers. He then fed us a simple, but really good and healthy dinner, the first I had in a long time. He invited us in and Klondike immediately made himself at home on his bed, he's rude like that. It turns out this very kind person was quite ill, he has aids, he use to be a former drug attic and he has quite a few health problems. We went over for dinner quite a few times after that, my neighbor was really nice, he watched out for us and made sure we didn't starve even though, arguably, he was worse off than we were. I don't know what happened to him but I will always remember him and be thankful he came into our lives.