Ms. Doris…
Two Years Ago, I wrote this Love Letter titled “Lunch Lady from Heaven”:
“Ms. Doris sold the newspaper on one of the busiest corners in Portland for years. Showing love to everyone as they grabbed their newspapers every Sunday. She knows the schedule of every free food handout in Portland. Going to all of them in order to get food that she can give out to the people who need it but couldn’t get there. She has adopted dozens of stray animals over the years, taking care of them and nursing them back to health. She has no car. She rides her bike everywhere, using the TARC when she needs it. She has loved me like her own grandchild from the moment I moved to Portland. She is one of the people who I wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out that she was an angel in disguise all along. She is a Saint of Portland.
Ms. Doris is always cheering me on and showing me Love. It is what she has done for so many others as well. That love is what brought them back to her newsstand week after week. That love is what makes her the most informed person in Portland, everyone tells her everything, and when there is information I need to know she passes it along.
The other week at our community cookout, I was sitting with a bunch of community minded people, all of us working towards building a healthier neighborhood. She joined us at the table as we were talking. I was surprised when one of the guys at the table brought up that Ms. Doris was their lunch lady in middle school. I thought it was so weird because she was also my lunch lady in middle school. She was also the lunch lady of another person sitting at the table. All various schools, decades apart.
It seemed like too many coincidences. How was Ms. Doris the lunch lady for all of us. How had she known all of us from such a young age? My imagination couldn’t help but wonder, what prayers had she silently spoken over our food, how many encouraging words had she whispered as she cleaned up behind our middle school messes? Before we had known her, before I even knew Portland, she had been praying for us to be at that table that day. She had been praying, willing into existence through Love, the dreams that she had for her community, and the people to carry them out.
Ms. Doris has been preparing the foundations for the revitalization of her community for decades. A Saint working in the shadows, downplaying her acts of love and using sarcasm to deflect from her own recognition. She is someone that others from outside of Portland would look over, that sometimes even people from Portland overlook, but I am guessing the same has been true for many Saints over the years.”
In the two years since writing that, Ms. Doris and I have only grown closer. I moved into a house down the street from her, and it happened to be one of the stops on her route feeding the alley cats. 6:30 pm every day in the summer, 5:30 pm in the winter, feeding the cats and talking to me. If I get home late from work one day and she has already fed Georgia May and Blondie, then I already know to expect a phone call later to catch up. She’ll talk shit, but also encourage me and let me know what is going on in the neighborhood. I help drive her to the grocery store, she takes my trash can in from the road and tries to give me food all the time. In January of this year, Ms. Doris passed away unexpectedly.
This past Sunday, I joined her family for a balloon release in honor of her at the spot where she sold newspapers for decades. I couldn’t help but think about how, if someone had asked me before her death for a list of the most important people in my life, she would not have cracked the top 10. Yet, after her death, I realized that I talked to her more than almost anybody else in my life. How much she taught me about loving people, animals, and all creation. She always saw the good in people no matter how much crap she would talk about them. Maybe that is how all people perceive their local Saints; they are Loved so well by them that they do not even realize it until that Love is gone. Maybe not gone, but living on in a different way.
However it works, I know she will be sorely missed by the community. By the people here, the alley cats, and the stray dogs. By the hungry, the homeless, and the lonely. She never stopped moving, maximising every second she had on this earth Loving those around her. Now she lives on as a memory, an inspiration, and a voice in the cloud of witnesses that surround us. Cheering us on as she watches the community she gave everything to be revitalized into the neighborhood she once knew. Cheering us on as the Kingdom of God is brought into form on this earth. The Love that she showed outliving her, proving that Love will always outlast our lives on this earth, because God is true Love, and God is the alpha and the omega, the first and the last, forever and ever, Amen.
Ethan
School Snack List!!!
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Merriment Closed!!!
Merriment is closed Today and Tomorrow for Derby. We look forward to seeing you next week. If you aren’t able to make it within our hours, you can always shop our high dollar items on our website here.
Fish Fry Closed!!!
The Fish Fry will be closed today for Oaks. We look forward to seeing you next week!
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