Mark Phillips' Pages: Workbook: 5/21/09: One day before we knew each other well she told me how elated she'd been to watch surfers at sunrise.

Jacob Lawrence, "The Party," 1935 — Jacob Lawrence, *The Party* (1935)

May 21, 2009:

One day before we knew each other well she told me how elated she'd been to watch surfers at sunrise. "Isn't it a joy to be alive?", she said.

Later I learned she'd been homeless, sleeping shivering in her car in a quiet residential neighborhood, terrified the police would find her there and take her away. She was awake at dawn because she'd been too cold to sleep.

All my life when I see surfers I'll think of the desperate homeless girl, shivering at dawn from cold and fear, yet always thanking God for the new day, and for His love.