I thought April 4 was going to be just another day selling Street Sense at my station outside the Giant in Van Ness Street.
Then a woman said, “Hey Beverly, how ya’ doin’? Where ya been?” It was my foster sister Charlene! We hugged! And why wouldn’t we? We hadn’t seen each other for 23 years. I was very surprised, but Charlene was even MORE surprised.
After my mother died when I was 9-years-old, I went to foster care in a house on Emerson Street. Charlene came there soon after. I was institutionalized seven years later. After the institution close, I became homeless.
But those days are over. I live have an apartment in Northwest and Charlene lives in Southeast. She was at the Giant buying food for mom, who lives in a senior center not far from the Giant. After she dropped off the food, she came back and we went to dinner.
We traded phone numbers. She said she’ll see me in a coupla weeks. I’m gonna call her to remind her about that!
