What Keeps You Going?

Blog post #467 of 365

About three times a week I go to the corner store. About half that time there is a homeless lady sitting out front. She always smiles and says hi. She never asks for money or beer or cigarettes or anything. She simply says hi.

I have offered to purchase her a cup of coffee and she has declined. I've offered to purchase a sandwich and she has declined. She told me she knows who has money to share and how to approach them but that for me she wants to 'pretend' we are friends. I wouldn't say we were friends but we are friendly. I thought of her during our recent rains. I discovered she sleeps in a trash bin surround. You know those things they hide the industrial sized trash bins. She says she can maneuver the two to hide behind and remains unseen for the most part. She says she showers at the gym and works odd jobs for 'spending' money but that she gets her food from the people she accepts money from.

I asked her what keeps her going and she said simply, "Hope." We could all learn a lot from that answer. She sleeps behind trash bins and begs for food by day, yet survives by hope.

What keeps you going?