Having spent almost half my life in prisons, I could have very well become hardened by hatred, regret, and deprivation, but yet this sweet loving old woman truly showed me I’m still a good guy – deep down.
Her name was Mary or “Miss Daisy” She was 94, and widowed. They were married for 62 years until cancer took him from her. She was sweet as ever, the biggest blessing in my life next to my late beloved mother. We were brought together after my girlfriend left me for drugs. I saw an ad in the paper for an “apartment for rent for a single working man.” I would soon be living in an upstairs one-bedroom apartment in Mary’s huge Victorian-style house. At 6’9”, 220 lbs, and tattoos, I automatically wrote myself off from even getting the place, not to mention forming a serious deep and meaningful friendship with an old fashioned christian woman like Mary. It all started with a six week old puppy Mary had to have. Before long, I was taking out the trash and cleaning up puppy stains on her extravagant carpet. About a year and a half later, she failed her fifth and final try at a renewal for a driver’s license. Bless her heart, to which she humbly asked if I would drive her to Walmart. One trip to the store would soon turn into endless trips to the hairdresser each Saturday, church on Sunday, anywhere else she needed to go. I always seemed to be driving “Miss Daisy” somewhere. I looked after her every move. Everything in life happens for a reason. I firmly believe people don’t cross our paths merely by coincidence. Having spent almost half my life in prisons, I could have very well become hardened by hatred, regret, and deprivation, but yet this sweet loving old woman truly showed me I’m still a good guy – deep down. We both added a bit of sunshine to the other’s life when it was found cloudy and grey. Yet here I am again in a pinch, yet not forgetting one thing for sure, “Good people make bad decisions too.” I’m not sure what happened to “Miss Daisy” after I moved. I still ponder from time to time and live by her words, “It doesn’t matter if you fall twenty times, as long as you get back up twenty one!”
