pleasant Thanksgiving surprise

This past Monday, following Thanksgiving break, I was presented with a pleasing update. It has to do with one of the men that frequently comes to Cross and Crown throughout the week. Let's call him Manny. Manny lives on the streets, openly admits he has schizophrenia, and may come off somewhat rough or "scary". Overtime we have developed a very unexpected relationship with Manny. Initially Manny was very pushy, rude, cursed at us on a regular basis, and threatened both staff members and individuals coming to receive assistance at Cross and Crown. I may be wrong, but I believe Manny has been the only person we have ever had to call the police on because he wouldn't leave the premises and was harassing people exiting the building.

Without going into every facet to explain the exponential growth we have made with Manny, believe me when I say, we've come a long way in our relationship with Manny. Daily visits and often bi-daily conversations with Manny have allowed us to learn much more about Manny than we ever could have imagined. Here's a few quick facts about Manny: All-State Football 1975, MVP at Taft Stadium OKC Preview 1975, played college football at Arkansas Pine Bluff, his father was in the Air Force, and he writes down his conversational thoughts on note cards and hands them to you when he wants to speak with you. The reason I give these facts is because these are the one's, I believe, he considers most significant based on the fact that once or twice a month he writes them down and hands them to me. He has requested that we laminate them for him.

So here's the news. Never once in the years we have known Manny has he every said anything about his family other than his dad was in the Air Force and anytime I would ask about brothers or sisters, he wouldn't say much. Monday, while Ron and I were turning on the heaters in front of Cross and Crown, Manny approached me and requested to sign the food/clothing list for the day, like he usually does every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I handed him the list and began some small talk. He had something else in mind.

"I sure did have a great Thanksgiving Holiday" - Manny
"Oh yeah? Where did you go eat on Thanksgiving? Did you head up to City Rescue or 10th and Penn?" -Myself
"Nah, I went to Golden Corral." - Manny
"...Reeeally? You decided to splurge, huh. How was it?" - Myself
"Nah, my brother and sister came and picked me up and took me Wednesday to Golden Corral. Then on Thursday we ate up at my other sister's house in Jones." - Manny

Come to find out, Manny has seven sisters! He also has one brother. He told me a while back he had a sister because he asked me to call her once, but seven? I told Manny I was unaware that he kept in contact with his brother and sisters and he informed me that he didn't. They tracked him down from another agency and then just went looking for him in an area that he is generally hanging out near. I thought that was pretty cool. After eating at Golden Corral on Wednesday and his sisters house on Thursday they also took him to do a little shopping. He was happy to inform me of some new additions to his wardrobe, as well as, some new index cards. Overall Manny was pretty happy with how his Holiday went, and I was happy to hear that he enjoyed some time with his siblings and pleasantly surprised that they would put in the time and effort to track him down. I'm glad they did.