Mama Cass

She was called this because she was big, beautiful and a fan of the Mamas & Papas band. Her story was like many of the others I heard, but with a twist.

She had been on the street for the past five or six years and didnt really seem to mind it. She had her routine and it didnt change much from day to day. She would wake up; roll up her bedclothes and hide it in the bushes; wash her face in the local gas station and start to roam the streets. Food wasnt always readily available, but somehow she would manage to eat. Someone was watching over her every day, making sure she survived.

The day I met Mama Cass, she took me under her wing and shared her small piece of sandwich that she had left from lunch. I really hated taking her little bit of food that she had, but she insisted. It was nice and since I hadnt eaten most of that day or the one before, I accepted her gracious offer. The bread was a bit stale and the peanut butter not the best I had tasted, but it still filled that void in my aching stomach.

I asked her what brought her to the streets of Durango. She sighed as she answered my question and told me the following story.
About six years ago, she was driving down a winding mountain road when a drunk driver came out of nowhere and struck her car. Her husband and child were killed on impact and she sustained many injuries. After her hospital stay and no way to support herself, as her husband had always been the one to work, she took what she had and walked away from everything she knew.

Her life was changed in an instant, but she would begin to change others in a way that only could be described as a blessing. She no longer cared about the physical things in life, only about living itself. If she found food to eat, that was good. If it didnt, she found something else to sustain her instead. If she found someone with no means of survival, she shared what she had and got them started on a new road. No one happened upon her path that their lives were not significantly changed one way or the other, including me.

Mama Cass turned out to be my angel of the streets while I wandered them from day to day and made me see life through a different pair of glasses not rose colored ones, but life colored ones.