Jan 8, 2011

Unedited excerpt from the Photo Journal



Taken from the rough draft of the journal log itself, this excerpt will be used as an illustration to support a specific theme, as the book will be formated topically, as opposed to chronologically.

Feedback is more than welcome, especially criticisms and additional insights!

7/27/10

...My phone service was then shut off an hour later. This was a crushing blow, and I became suddenly aware again of how alone I was. I tried hitchhiking for two days after that, had no luck, and slept in a park and behind dumpsters. With a sense of mounting anxiety, I felt as if I was stranded, so I stood on the side of an intercity section of I-10 holding a sign, desperately begging for a ride East. I was moments away from an emotional meltdown, when a gorgeous young lady pulled up, told me she couldn’t drive me far, but asked if she could help at all. I was apprehensive, but decided to go for it. We put the bike in her tiny car and went to her apartment, where she fed me and let me shower.

She then told me that she had recently developed serious cancer, lost her job because of it, and
felt compelled to do any good deed possible. She also has a three year old son who is developmentally disabled, an ex-husband who left her, and a boyfriend who beat her.

If there was ever a heart that had never known the state of brokenness, I'm sure it would crumble at her story.

Here was an upbeat, outgoing, funny, and beautiful 27 year old woman, who was enduring pure pain, and somehow had the audacity to be positive and happy about life, for the sake of living life itself. She showed me that no matter how lost or hopeless life may seem, we always have the choice to be strong and the ability to be content.

After meeting her, it took every bone in my body not to embrace her, look deeply into her eyes, tell
her that she is amazing, beautiful, and loved, and kiss her passionately. I fell in love with her; six years
my senior, just as broke, and holding more baggage than I could ever possibly lift. I wanted to rescue that
damsel, take all of her distresses away in one fell swoop, and ride off into the sunset, but as night came around,
so did I.

I quickly snapped back into reality and left to sleep behind a dumpster in a medical plaza. The next day, her and I met up again and ran some errands. She went to obtain welfare assistance, and while there, I inquired about a discounted bus ticket home, and set plans in motion to leave the next day. We then picked her son up from his father's house and took him to a water playground where we had a blast together. As night began to fall, I grew fearful of yet another painful goodbye, as I had grown attached to her in only two days.

I contained my emotions though, forced myself to detach, and left her without hesitation; she became nothing but a dream to me, a cherished dream...

3 comments:

  1. Grammar comment: "The next day, *she* and I met up again" There may be more grammar stuffs but with one quick skim, this popped out at me.

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  2. very good call, thanks! I have a few close friends, who are much better writers than I, and they're going to do a good amount of grammatical editing for me, as in any book I guess, I'm more worried about the style and content itself. If I cant communicate this story in a relevant manner, then no one will care to read the book, not that I'm too concerned about that. I just want something to call my own.

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  3. damnit steve, I didnt know that was you haha

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