Dear Ollie

My online life has consisted of micro-burst via facebook lately, and I have to admit I've become very comfortable with it.  In part, I'm sure, because I know I've exposed my personal life quite a bit when I blog, and I sometimes wonder how wise that has been.  I've never been one to be open, I've always been mute about my past and my pain until I wandered into this online forum.  In facebook I'm automatically limited in what I can say.

However, a recent facebook page has had me wondering, for a while, whether I should expose another secret.  Un secreto que toda via, One that can still give me nightmares, and one that I'm glad lies as but a memory.    One that I hope never repeats itself, especially considering that I have been unable to find employment, and the economy continues to stall.

Well, here goes...

I will introduce you to the Dear Ollie page, started by a beautiful blogger who could not stand by while Dearest Ollie faces eviction at the end of the month unless enough money can be raised to grant her another 30 days reprieve.  Ollie is 66 years old with no family... I'm sorry, I mean with no loving family to assist her.  Imagine being 66 yrs old and facing eviction?

When I was 17 years old I was homeless for two days and two nights, my homelessness beginning on an evening.  Two days I lived on the street with nothing to eat and two nights I sat in a doorway trying not to close my eyes, which eventually could not be helped.  Have I ever been more frightened?  Unfortunately, yes.  Yet of all the things that haunt, of things that cannot be pushed to the back of one's mind and soul, is the terror of not knowing.  Not knowing what the night held for me with no walls for protection, even though I knew quite well walls can often be a prison.

I could not imagine facing such terror again.  Especially at 66.

These are not easy times for many of us, admittedly my own donation was but a pittance with my art & book sales down.  Still, I ask for Ollie's sake, can you can please "like" the Dear Ollie Page so that it begins to get some notice?  And if you have $1. or $2. or $5. to donate to her Fund, it would be much appreciated.

La Tempestad (The Storm) Retablo

love,

me