Before leaving to go on the World Race my best friend, Steen, her sister Amanda (May-hay), and I went to Chattanooga as you read in my previous blog. But, you didn’t hear about all of the fun childlike adventures we had. When we arrived we walked around the town taking pictures and sitting by the river. While we were walking around we were approached by a homeless woman named Andy who calls herself the Chattanooga Street Poet. Andy asked us if we would like to choose a topic and she would recite an original poem that represented that emotion. We chose despair and listened to a poem about her watching a woman living on the streets being raped by three men. She watched in terror and silence as she did not want them to notice her and come after her as well. It was a heart wrenching poem and after hearing a couple more poems, we decided to ask Andy if she would come to dinner with us. We took her to a Thai restaurant and she was so pleased to experience her first taste of Thai food. She definitely enjoyed her meal as it was devoured in no time at all.
After dinner, we took Andy to The World Next Door and bought her a new outfit. Her demeanor and expression changed dramatically and you could tell she felt beautiful. She smiled so big and said, “thanks” hurrying to throw away her old clothes in the trash can and show her street friends her new look. It was such an amazing site and I felt so honored to play a small role in seeing Andy filled with joy. For one day she felt that she was worth it and that she had value.
After leaving the store with a new sense of joy, we headed across the bridge to the other side of the river. Once we arrived on the other side we noticed that there was an old-fashioned carousel. So we scrounged up all the change we had left in our purses and all rode the carousel. Oh, we had so much fun acting like children. After our ride we decided to jump in the fountain in our clothes and it was so much fun as you can see from the picture above. We were living in the moment; laughing, spinning and jumping around. We even inspired a whole other group of guys to jump in the fountain in their suits. It was hllarious. The only bad part was the cold walk back across the bridge to our car to go home. We got in the car and reminisced about our fun filled day. Oh, the memories.
Pictured below from left to right. May-hay, Me, and Steen. I love you girls!
