My Momma said she wanted something real real real
Something she could be proud of, something she could feel feel feel
She said they not used to not having nothin real real real
That they don’t know how to act, don’t know how to feel feel feel
LUPE FIASCO
So, I have this friend named Keith……..
I met Keith about a month ago and he spent some time in Tampa so we instantly became friends. We shared a meal together at Jimmy John’s.
We talked about church and politics for a while and then we got to some deeper issues. Keith just recently lost his daughter to a very deadly disease and deep depression has plagued his recent days………
Keith is desperately trying to get back on his feet while dealing with this depression, but one day he just could not take the pain and checked into the hospital.
I get a call about a week after I meet Keith from a friend of his who told me that he was in the hospital and that he wanted me to get in contact with him. She kindly gave me the number to the hospital and I quickly dialed the number. After a couple of connections I finally reached someone at the psychiatric ward. After talking to the receptionist it became very clear that I was not going to reach him or give him a message, for that matter. They basically hung up on me because I was not family. Yes, they are just protecting him, but it was still frustrating.
I had lost hope………..
A week later I get a phone call from Kieth! He left me a message saying that he needed a P.O. Box so he could recieve his veterans checks and medicine. Keith, having no real address, needed this desperately.
I agreed to pay for the six month fee, 35 dollars. We decided to meet the next day and drive up to the Post Office…..
Wednesday rolls around and my friend Ben and I do hop in my car and roll out to have a meal with some folks that live in the woods in chapel hill, NC.
As we eat, I ask one of the guys if they have seen one of my friends Wesley around. “you mean Wes?” one of them says to me. “Yeah,” I reply. “Well, Wes died, he was drunk and got hit by a car,” The other guy says to me………………
This is a friend of mine……..
This is a friend who I promised to take to Florida in March…….that is less than a month away…….and now he is gone……
At the end of the meal when we were just about to leave one of the guys who stays out in the woods, Harvey comes up to my friend Ben and I and says, “Hey you guys driving?” “Sure are. Do you need a ride,” I reply. “Yes, but you are not going to like were I am going…………..” he replied
Harvey was going to the Liquor Store. He told me he was going to walk there anyway, but that he would really appreciate the ride…………
I really struggled with this…….especially because Wesley just died walking Drunk…………
What should I do? Give him a ride to the Liquor Store? Or, let him walk?
I don’t know if there is a right answer………
I gave him a ride….my only hope is that Grace is bigger than this…..
I think that my friend Patrick said it best when he told me that……”It is always best to aire on the side of Grace.”
As we drove we learned that Harvey was a former Marine who has post-traumatic stress disorder, a widower (his wife died of a heroine overdose) and a man who loves his philosophy…….
As we talked I began to feel like we had a relationship going, but as we dropped him off the sadness I felt for Harvey, mixed with the sadness I felt for Wes collided and I LOST HOPE……….
That is until I picked up Keith for our Post Office visit.
Right when I saw him I immediately started smiling and so did he. I reached out my hand to give him a shake, but he immediately grabbed me and gave me a big bear hug……..this guy made my day.
Keith is in a halfway house now. He is making it…….as he tells me, “God is good!”
Then we were off to the Post-Office. We got there just in time, but the lady said we needed a voters card to get a P.O. Box so we jumped back in the car and raced towards the elections office, grabbed a voters card an hurried back within minutes of them closing up.
Keith filled out his forms and I paid the bill. Then, what I saw I will never forget. The lady hands over two keys to Keith and says, “Now, don’t lose these. You will have to pay a fee to get them replaced.” Keith’s eyes lit up and a big smile came to his face as he grabbed the keys. “No mam, I’m definitely not going to lose these.” Then he turned to me with that big smile and said, “wannna go check it out?” “Of course!”
We walked down the hall and found the box and Keith took one of those golden keys and unlocked the little door and it opened right up.
I have never seen someone so excited about a P.O. Box before in my entire life………
“There she is,” said Kieth. “Isn’t she beautiful?” “Sure is,” I replied.
You gotta understand. This is it for Keith. This mailbox is all he has…….but Keith gave me a way bigger gift that day. A gift way more valuable than any mailbox. Keith gave me hope, faith and love………even after I felt like I had lost them all.
When I dropped Keith off he said those same words that he said when I first met him, “God is Good.”
Amen.
