My husband and I have only been married for four years. My former husband, god rest his soul, died from cancer twelve years ago, leaving me with small children and a home mortgage. In my last marriage I was owner of a small movie theater in a small town (in Connecticut) for twenty years, serving the people who could not afford the movies. For those who could, I ran top movies for $2 and keep candy and popcorn prices to a minimum so everyone could buy it. The town was a very poor town.”
The extent of what I’d been spared in this life was hitting home; the depth of my safe, comfortable, if not cocooned existence I still cannot fully appreciate, may never fully appreciate. What suffering I have borne in my life could not even be called suffering in Debbie’s life. What work I have done would barely qualify as such. Even as I vowed I would never complain again, I knew with pathetic self-loathing that I would fail to keep that promise.
Yet, what I knew more was that I had to go above and beyond trying to help Debbie with a check in the mail. The idea for a social experiment was brewing, an experiment that I prayed would bring her the relief she so desperately needed and me the action I so desperately craved. So with Debbie’s permission, we began.
Next: My Brother’s Keeper(Part V)
