Gloria, 66

From the desert to the concrete jungle… New York, meet Gloria. She’s from Arizona and has been living in NYC for the past three weeks. She told me that she’s just happy now that she doesn’t have to deal with anymore scorpions or rattlesnakes. Not only do these little creatures make living in Arizona unbearable for Gloria, but the desert was much too hot for her and she found herself uncomfortable more often than she was relaxed. What better place to beat the heat then to move to New York! Gloria chose New York for the cool weather as well as all of the resources that come with submerging yourself in the city. Gloria doesn’t have any family on the east coast nor have anyone to turn to in NYC for support. She has a little bit of money to last for the rest of September but she told me that she is extremely grateful for what she does have… her life. As I was talking with Gloria, she told me all about her state of mind and how nothing in this physical world can mentally break her. Gloria preached: when things don’t go as planned, you just have to enjoy the ride that you are riding, and as long as you have good intentions and plan ahead you’ll be just fine.

I told Gloria that I feel like we may have known each other in our past lives because there was such a genuine aura around her that made me feel comfortable and almost nostalgic. Gloria told me all about her recent doctors’ visits and how she’s had to change her diet and stop drinking soda, but since being in New York she’s been neglecting the doctors’ orders and has been eating whatever she can find. She told me that she’s not happy having to stray away from her diet, but she’s so thankful towards the people who give her food anyway. Within the time I spent talking with her, a couple came up to give her some Five Guys fries and another woman gave her a dollar. Even though Gloria was happy to receive the dollar, she told me that she didn’t need it and actually offered it to me! After denying the dollar, she went on to offering me the fries! I told her that I was not going to take her fries, so she pointed to a man across the street sitting on a cardboard box and holding a cup. Gloria said, “See that man? I bet he would love some fries”, so I walked over to the man with the bag of fries and pointed to Gloria, and told the man that she wanted him to have these fries. After I returned to tell Gloria how happy that man was to receive the fries, I asked her what she actually wanted. She just wanted a tuna sandwich, not a difficult request at all, right? Well I went up and down several blocks trying to find this selfless woman some tuna. After I failed to find a simple tuna sandwich in NYC, she laughed at my effort and said that she’ll take some chicken and rice from across the street. Gloria is truly a beautiful soul with a determined state of mind, she told me that she’ll “see me at the top” in a few years whenever we’re both millionaires. Thank you for taking the time to inspire me, Gloria. I still owe you a tuna sandwich!

Story by Dawson