.. [ day five ] .. cold and rainy

"... until you run into a tree you never know how much it hurts ..."

Today it was shower day, and a rainy day. Which meant the homeless shelter, where allows the homeless to take showers was packed. An hour for a 5 minute hot douche and a shave.

I thought it was going to be summer........ now its cold and rainy!

This morning I sat and found quit a bit of interesting research. But, I am going to hold off and write about it when I find a cafe that is warmer! I am sitting here in this grocery store in Belltown and freezing my garnishes off!

I need to go find some warmness.

The picture to the right is the Urban Stop. A very cool place for the homeless. Heck they are remodeling the showers (cost .50) and the laundry mat . It is so nice that I think travelers would find it nicer than any Hostel I every seen!!!

Although construction is not to be completed until late August. I had to take a picture of the construction as it brought back fun memories of when I was 12-16 helping, Dennis a single guy in his mid 30's, build Wascomat laundry mats. He taught me how to have table manners and eat at fancy restaurants, he took me to Disneyland and Great America several times, showed me how to be a vendor at several Dry cleaning conventions, where he talked to millionaires investors who financed many of his Wascomat laundromats, and he took me to quit a few other places throughout the US all on his dime. He was never a father role model to me, because I looked nothing like him, he was a balding beer belly chain smoking short white guy. I at that age was small for my age, a whopping 90 pounds as a freshman and all of 5 foot one inches. Even though he paid me pennies, discounting the clothes of course he made sure I had when we went on trips, he still paid me pennies and the only justification for his cheap labor was that I was a kid and he was teaching me more than anyone would.

That was his same reasoning when on occasion he would throw me into dryers to show off to the customers. He was a big kid trapped in a balding body and he taught me how to make a shell building with dirt floors into a cool laundromat business!!! He was an inspiration to a poor Mexican, and I am forever grateful for the great things he taught me. In looking inside the Urban Cafe and the construction, I quickly went back to my childhood. Thank God I don't fit into a dryer anymore!

It is funny, although he was straight, and my mom for sure thought he was gay, it wasn't until my mom started making assumptions that I started feeling uncomfortable taking such long trips with him. It took me until I was around 16 to get over how she made me feel about something that never existed to begin with. Even up to 3 years ago, she brought it up assuming he molested me. I had to yell at her, "MOM that is ridiculous, I can not believe you after 30 something years still believe that!!!!"

I do have o admit the first night she made those accusations when I went over to spend the weekend a his house as was the routine, I made him take me home at 2:30 AM, paranoid that he was going to try to do something in my sleep!

When he came to my high school graduation and hen several years later gave me money so that I could travel Europe when I was par of the US World Gymnastrada team in 1982, I was embarrassed to ever tell him what my mom said.

LOL!!!!