During the Darkness of Homelessness, Two Strangers Shined Their Lights
Never will forget them
I was standing outside of the homeless shelter. Security would wake us before sunrise. We had little time to get cleaned up and head to the lobby to get oatmeal or grits; and if we were lucky, a cup of coffee.
I was about to head to my pickup to try to get some extra sleep and hopefully, not freeze to death. Minneapolis is cold in November. A guy stopped his car and rolled down his window. “ Can I buy you a cup of coffee?”
I didn’t have anything to lose, “ Sure,” I answered and walked around to the passenger side and got in the car. We went to a diner and had coffee, I think he bought me breakfast, but I’m not sure.
I do remember him trying to convert me to Catholicism. I told him I was raised as a Southern Baptist and I thought” Catholics were weird.” If he was offended he didn’t let it show.
We talked for a while, then we got back in the car and he dropped me off at the library right after they opened the lobby doors. The man’s kindness kept me warm and safe for an hour and he saved me a long walk in the cold.
A few months later, I had G.A. that paid for a bed upstairs at the shelter in a room with ten other guys. Olivia, a woman in South Carolina who I met on…
