Guilty as charged, feeling sorry for myself lately. No excuse, really. I have so much. Big car repair bill last week. Many have no car. Many more have no means to pay for such a huge bill.

Met up with the better half after work, spotted a woman not much older than me in a wheelchair quietly hoping for some funds. Upon closer approach, realized the lady was missing her right leg from the knee down.

“The sugar got your leg?” I asked. “Sure did baby,” she replied. I put a couple of bucks in her cup.

“That’s awful,” I said. “My mom’s got the sugar.”

“Oh Lordy,” she said, “You tell your mama to watch her feet.”

“I’m Doreen,” I said, “What’s your name?”

“Gloria,” she said. I told Gloria my mom’s having surgery next week. “She’s not losing her feet or leg is she?” Gloria asked. “Oh no,” I said. “She’s getting her knee replaced.”

Gloria smiled up at me. “Well you tell your mama hello from one diabetic to another, alright?”

“God bless you Gloria,” I said. “God bless you too,” Gloria said.

My earliest childhood memory is looking in mom’s address book and asking her what that yellow piece of paper taped in the back said.

“I cried because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet.”

–Doreen A Mannion