My day with Shirlee

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I didn't get everything done that I was planning on today, but there was a good reason, I think. At the entrances to the shopping center where my bank is, there are often homeless folks there with signs--usually former vets--asking for money. Today I was surprised to see that there was an elderly lady sitting in the spot where a man usually sat. I stopped and gave her a five, and then went on to the bank. On the way back she was still there, and we spoke for several hours. Once I remember saying something about having to go, but she kept on talking, so I stayed. At one point I introduced myself, and she told me her name was Shirlee (spelled with two ee's. That was something we had in common--no one ever spells my name right, either). She told me that she lived in Santa Rosa, in her car, and that there were a few places where she went with her sign. She told me how someone had told her that her original sign, which said she was homeless, wouldn't work as well because "non-homeless folk" had an aversion to homeless people. So, she said, she made a new sign, the one she had today, which said "Senior Struggling". There were quite a few people who stopped to give her a few dollars, and often when they drove up we would be talking and I'd have to alert her to the person holding money out the window. Shirlee told me that once, she was in that spot, and she was attacked by another homeless person because she was in "his spot". He punched her in the face several times, she said, and tried to steal her cart, which had several important things in it. Thankfully, she said, a "young man" (which could have been someone my age, as she told me she was 77) came to her rescue, and the man who attacked her was arrested and is currently incarcerated. One lady came by and gave us both a cup of water from the nearby McDonalds, and another lady who was coming out of the shopping center in her car gave Shirlee a Luna bar, apologizing because she didn't have any money to give. After she was gone Shirlee gave the Luna bar to me because she said it wasn't something she would eat. After several hours of sitting and talking, I stood up because I hadn't in a while, and she thanked me for stopping and to have a good day. I hadn't meant to stand up to leave, but I did go, as I still had shopping to do. I left and went shopping, then came home. I put the groceries away, then put laundry that I'd put in the washer before I left this morning in the dryer. I didn't get a whole lot done today, but I guess I was company for someone for a bit.