roemay.

This is Oppenheimer park.

Many people who live on the streets in East

Hastings hang out at this park.

It was here that I met Roemay.

A thin middle aged woman clearly under the influence of drugs.

She was dressed as if she might work the streets but a sweet

smile cracked her hard face and gave her the gift of years gone by.

As soon as I approached her she began to let me in on her story.

I could tell that she needed someone to listen.

She asked me how old I was... 20.

She told me her daughter would have been 20 soon.

Would have been...

Her daughter was killed in a car accident.

Her neck was snapped and she died instantly.

This all happened two weeks after she and Roemay had

started talking again.

Roemay has an eleven year old son that she has not seen

since her daughter's funeral. She told me she "wanted

to get straight" so he could see her again.

She showed me their picture.

Roemay told me that her daughter helped one of her friends

get sober before she died. Do it for her, I said.

When our conversation ended she asked if she could hug me.

Of course I said yes. Never have I felt a more desperate

hug, so many things unsaid.

She told me that she loved talking to me because I was like

her daughter.

She said that for a second she could pretend I was her

daughter and it made her happy again.

Pray for Roemay.

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