By The Beautiful One from N. Carolina
How was your Labor Day vacation? OK I hope. Fall is here and looking at the trees and leaves reminds me of North Carolina.
This year we had a very good summer, going to picnics (including one at Street Sense) as well as block parties. But in Autumn I always become homesick, remembering the days of my youth.
I remember running around with no shoes, playing in the fields and riding horses bareback (of course the horses belonged to the bosses’ daughter). My step grandmother, sister and I lived way back up in the woods. About 5 other families lived within walking distance. After school all would go ride on the cotton sacks that the field workers pulled and sometimes I would get to pick cotton. Can you imagine a 6 year old kid picking cotton? Also, we played straw-like peanut stacks. I never got hurt running around barefoot. Being young is great! I remember having two pairs of shoes for the whole year and wearing socks on my hands to keep them warm.
I recently met new people on the streets – they had fallen on hard times and reminded me that that could be me. But thanks to the “higher power,” I’m safe for right now. Recently, I have felt vulnerable because of gentrification in my neighborhood. Rents go up every year. Let’s all be thankful for another week, day and time we are still here in this “beautiful world.”
As the saying goes, I complained about having no shoes until I met a man without feet. Ain’t the “higher power” good to us?
I would like to thank by customers, especially those of the Adams Morgan area, for buying my Street Sense.
