12/03/2019
Good Night and here is my final Tidbit for the night. Those that prayed for me to have the best day of my life, I can say this surley was one of them.
Love David
I know I have not gotten in to much detail on my dinner guests tonight but I promise I will next time.
In KC and found 18 homeless men and women and took them to dinner.
It was one of the most amazing days of my life.
Here is what I learned about and from my new friends.
1. James was in the army and 2 weeks before he got of the Military they were on patrol and they came under fire and everyone in his company was killed. He has lived with the grief of being the only survivor.
He was been trying to numb his pain for years in the bottom of a bottle and whatever drugs he could get a hold of that day.
2. Milly was in college in 1984 and was living the fast life and she went to a party where she was drugged and r***d, by lots of guys.
She went to the police and there was not enough evidence to prove she was rapped and nothing happened.
Everyone thought she went there to do this because one of her so called friends told the police that this was her fantasy and she later found out that she was friends with one of the guys.
She now has AIDS and Hep C. She is just waiting to die. I walked up and began to talk to her and told her I wanted to take her to dinner, and she stuck out her hand, and for those of you who know me, know I do not shake hands I hug.
She told me right away she had AIDS and Hep C and I told her I had the Holly Ghost and not to worry about it. I gave he a hug that would have woke up the dead and she would not let go, and then I whispered in her ear that I loved her. She started to cry and then my heart broke for her.
3. Mike was a professor and life was good. He had a family and kids and then one day he started to hear voices and one day he was diagnosed with Schizophrenia and his life went to hell in a hand basket.
He started to attack his family and they stuck by him until one day when he had a moment of clarity and went to the doctor and asked with meds can you control this disease every day 24/7 and the doctor said they had him on the strongest meds at the time and he then made the decision to leave his family 18 years ago.
He has been hospitalized over 50 times and the good days are far and few between. I have to admit that Mike rattled me several times as he would burst out and lash out, but the group seemed to be able to clam him enough to get through the meal.
4. Eric was a star running back that was going places until one night his senior her he made the mistake of try crack.
Eric said that he hustles to get crack to feed his addiction only. I had to ask if he was really going to college and then he showed me a news paper about himself and sure enough he had offers to many schools.
He did not want his last name used to protect his family who gave up so much for him and he pi**ed it all
Because of a drug. He has not spoken to his family in 21 years. They told him he was their ticket out of the s**t whole they were in. That was a lot for a 17-year-old to carry. I asked him if they have ever reached out to him and he said no.
He went on to tell me they were God fearing people and I told him that was a load of panther p**s because if they truly feared God they would have found you and taken you home to get you healed.
I told Eric I loved him and wanted to have dinner with him and he told me that he was not allowed in any place down here because he was homeless and I told him tonight he was my guest and we were going to have a great time.
5. Eugene is such a kind man. When I walked up to the group, he said Sir are you lost and then I said no Sir I am right where I want to be. He said Sir do you know where you are at and I said right where God wanted me to be. He then said well Ok then, if God wants you year then ALRIGHT!
I asked him what his story was and he told me that he has a job but lost everything trying to fight the cancer his wife had for seven years. He told me he tried it all and then only that that went away was all of his money, home, car and everything else.
When his wife died, he said it was time to just leave the old behind and head to the streets. He has no children and I told him that I didn’t either. He said the only thing he took was a few of his cloths, some shoes and his harmonica and wow could he play.
I will get to the rest of the stories another day. I want to tell you about our dinner. I sent the guys ahead of me and they were met by the manager and he told them if they wanted to stay, they had to order a meal and he needed to see money before he let them in and then he said he would have to sit them in the back because of the smell.
I walked up to the manager and asked him if he was in a habit of discriminating against disabled people, people of color, and people that could not help their smell and the manager asked me who I was and I told him I was the guy that was going to call all the news stations and explain how his was discriminating against veterans (5), disabled men and women and also people that smelled. I also wanted to know if it was their practice to make each person who came into the restaurant, show their ability to pay. He said no and that is when I asked to be seated, and I told him all of us.
He then had several people put tables together and we heard him ask the wait staff who wanted to wait on them people. This pi**ed me off so badly that I wanted to get up and say something and several of the group said shake it off and let’s have a good time.
We heard a young lady say I want to wit on them. It would be my pleasure. As we looked around the restaurant, we could see that all eyes were on us.
I had a One Spark Sweatshirt on and several people said to me that they knew what it was, and I must have looked shocked and then the lady pulled out a copy of my book and I told her she was one of maybe a 100 people that had that book. She told me it was an amazing book and the number can never define the worth of anything. She thanked me for my service and asked who else at the table served and before she walked around and hugged each person that served and thanked them, I asked her how she knew I served? She said she was on my page and saw where I got the Quilt of valor a couple weeks ago.
I was shocked and after she got done thanking all who served she told us to enjoy our meals and even recommended what we should get.
We laughed and cried, and I know we were loud and when things calmed down a bit at our table, the waitress came over and handed me a One Spark card and told me that the dinner had been paid for and so had desert. I told her that I was in shock and wanted to know who it and she told me the lady I was talking to and she was gone. I told her I would tip her and she said that had already been taken care of as well.
I sat there for a moment and then I could not help myself and tears stated to come down my face and the young girl asked me id she had done anything and I said no, it was the kindness of a stranger that brought me to tears.
We had desert and I learned so much about giving, not from the lady that bought our meals, from my new friends.
Love David A2J
P.S. THe waitress wanted to wait on us because she was homeless for years.
