Everyone has a story
Every morning, Monday to Friday I get up, have breakfast and go to work. Even with Covid I had a job and a routine to look forward to, all within the comforts of my inner city home.
Hi everyone, meet Richard. He and I met during Covid outside Calgary’s Central Library. Heading back from an afternoon of taking cityscape photos and crossing through the library's property and was about to head down the stairs towards the parking area when Richard hailed me. He had seen my camera in hand and asked if I would take his picture.
People experiencing homelessness have engaged me before and while I have on many occasions obliged in brief casual conversation, I felt compelled to go further with Richard. To make sure I hadn't misheard Richard, I confirmed it was indeed ok and then snapped a picture of Richard sitting on the cement ledge outside the library. One question lead to another and the next thing you know, I took a seat nearby Richard and started to learn more about him and where he was in his life today. Richard was unabashed in his enthusiasm for having multiple photos of himself taken.
Over the next twenty minutes or so I learned a bit about Richard’s story. Richard is recently retired and wasn’t shy about telling me his age and when his next birthday was. To think I am (at the writing of this entry) only a month away from being the same age as Richard, was cause for reflection on the contrasts between where my life is and where life has him.
As we got further into his story, I got a picture of Richard's early life and a bit about growing up as a child. He told me that his father was in construction and helped build the Calgary Tower. Richard shared that hIs parents use to go for drinks at the bar across the from the library taking him and his siblings in tow. His dad would give them a handful of quarters (used to buy more than they do today) and were told to go play with the pinball machines. When his parents were done for the evening, they would pick him and his siblings up and go home. This probably explained part of Richard’s current situation, the can of "dessert" sitting beside him and his need for support from the Calgary Drop-in Centre.
Though we didn’t get into the details of the mother of his children or the mother(s) of his grandchildren, we did talk about how he adored his grandchildren and sketching Marvel action heroes for them. He was quite proud of his Ironman sketch [pictured above] that stretched about 2 feet high and took a couple of months of effort to complete before he could hand it over to his grandchildren.
Going through more pictures on his phone [sketches and people], we came across a photo of a diamond ring and later a photo of Richard with his fiancé. Richard told me that this ring was for a lady he was engaged to and whom had recently broke up with him. While I was sad for Richard that this relationship hadn't work out (there is a really good picture of the two of them together all smiles and in love), I was happy to learn they are still good friends and stay in contact to this day. I didn't violate his privacy by asking the story behind their break-up.
It struck me as we talked, Richard never asked that I feel sorry for him and his current life situation. He was more interested in me listening to a bit of his life story and to a couple of things that gave him joy. Sketching. Richard is very good! He only draws with $10 pencils and only draws super heroes. Of all his personal possessions (most in storage), it was quite clear he missed his electric race car set (another photo he had proudly showed me). Next to drawing, electric race cars is definitely a passion of his.
What was going to be a quick photo and continuation of the journey to my car, ended up being a 20 minute chat that left me so appreciative that my camera embolden Richard to hail me and engage me in some really good conversation. I explained to Richard that I unfortunately really did have to go and thanked him for sharing some of his story with me.
As I got up to leave, Richard blessed me and I left him after a brief prayer. Everyone has a story, everyone has a right to be heard and I am happy to share a bit of Richard’s with you.
