next day

I went to visit Albert and and Stephan hoping to see how his trip to the hospital ended as i had to leave after almost 6 hours of waiting. Albert and Nate were there but there was no Stephan they told me he was on a specific corner that I could not find after my visit with them....grrrr

Luckily i had loaded up my jeep with the of clothes and food from work cuz as soon as I parked..in a place i never had before i noticed that all the stuff they usually have with them was not this evening. And they told me why and i was totally pissed and confused (but i cant explain why cuz if i do it will give away where they have a safe place to go that is heated) so Amen i had all new blankets and clothes for them!! I pulled out all new stuff for them and was thankful and happy to do so. They invited me sit down with them and pulled out a milk crate for me join them as it makes Albert uncomfortable when i squat for so long when i hang out...so i took their generous off and took a sit. We chatted as to how they were and Albert told me about how he walked home from the hospital after staying til about midnight and getting to se Stephan who was asleep when he was able to visit him. He told me he took the bus home and sometime in the night Stephan left the hospital and instead of heading south on Woodward he went north and went some distance out of his way...boy thing! Albert told me the hospital didn't do anything for him beyond let him get some rest and told him he could come back in a week if it was still bad!!! Albert was surprised he left in the middle of the night esp since there was a warm place to sleep and food.

I told them i would look for Stephen when i left them. About this time it was brought to my attention by a gentleman that i was blocking a car...fearing i was about to get busted for being where i was or drawing too much attention to these guys i hustled my ass and moved my car to let some woman move hers. As i got out i noticed her passenger side window go down and i told her i was sorry and she said it was ok. Then i asked her if it was ok that i was where i was doing what i was and i explained to her what i was doing and it was about this time that i realized she was who was. And i sort of feared i was about to be told not come back, esp since ass hole cop had cleaned the area out that morning and left the guys with nothing...but instead she told me it was ok and that she knew who did it and talked to him and she told me she helps the guys out too and named a bunch of them and we talked about the gentlemen we knew mutually. we spoke until the guy who told me i was blocking her came up to her car, we said good bye after shaking hands and i told her my name after i confirmed she was who i thought she was..and she was.

I went back to hanging out with the guys, and we talked about her for a bit and then they asked how i had been and i told them about my hang over from the night before and the trouble i had gotten myself into and how lucky i was that it was not way more trouble and they laughed and told me to take care of myself. Then I told them about it being my birthday and they both in unionson said it to me real loud!! it was so awesome!! they were so genuine it made me like birthdays right then.

Then Nate asked if i ever felt unsafe out doing what i was doing. It was a valid question. And i tried to explain to him that I can not operate on fear cuz people can sense fear but that i trust my intuition as well. I don't put myself in obviously unsafe situations like going into abandoned buildings or certain areas at night. But that i have to have an element of being open and trusting or no one will trust me to try to help them. Albert injected to Nate "Look at her ..no one is going to hurt her" He must have seen the confused look on my face..and he went on to say that people can tell i am not out to hurt them and they are welcoming because of that... look at them he said. I thanked him for his compliments but told him I can not operate that far out of reason either and that it is a fine balance.

I have had more than one person ask me what Nate did, I have had close friends warn me about being so open. And i appreciate all of their concern and i offer no 'buts' here... just full gratitude that so many people care about my welfare!

i bow my head and say 'namaste'

~d