We
all have many things to be thankful for but every Thanksgiving (and
many times over the year) I am most grateful for people who have added
to my life and are no more with my physically--I know they are my
Guardian Angels looking over my shoulder every day of the year--though
YOU may not know them they are a part of my family and I would like to
share them with you. During the 80s I lost many friends due to AIDS but
now as I am old I am losing many of them to natural causes from growing
old.
Until the end BJ fought to stay alive but it wasn't enough. I
only knew her for a very short time over the years if I totaled them up
but once you met her you never forgot her.
Then there was Robert
who knew he would live for a very long time but it wasn't long enough.
I've written about him over the years and he and James who were together
for over 50 years. We were close friends for over 30 years.
I
miss Layde. She was fun and a great supporter of mine not to mention
donating many hours to editing my books and, many times, my thoughts. We
met in Tennessee and a few years later she moved to Dallas with her
sister Nina and Nina's partner Jean. She was always there for me with a
joke or a shoulder to cry on.
Due to age many people here at
Gateway have died. This past year we lost Emily and Barbara and last
year we lost  Carmen and Liz, both to cancer. Liz was an outgoing artist
who volunteered every Saturday giving walking tours of the Bonnet
House, an historical landmark in Fort Lauderdale. She did not suffer
fools gladly and wasn't shy about telling them off.
I have never
seen a family matriarch as loved by her family as Carmen was and each
child, both daughters and sons, were more beautiful, more handsome than
the other. They were polite, well mannered and respected all adults even
as they were adults themselves. Her grandson, a strapping 6 feet, 200
pound 13 year old, loved her so much he couldn't but help show her every
time he was near. She was caring, loving, positive and optimistic to
all her family, friends and neighbors and had a wicked sense of humor.
They
may just be names to you but along with many others they bring a smile
and warmth to me whenever I think of them and I often do.  I hope Ladye,
BJ, Liz, Robert and Carmen get to say hello to:

Albyn
(heart attack), Flo (cancer), Joe (stroke), Ginny (cancer), Ronnie
(heart attack) Bob B. (heart attack), John C. (AIDS), Tom L. (AIDS), Ray
B. (heart attack), Buddy (AIDS), Michael Mc (AIDS),  Joe (heart attack)
Bob/Dr K (heart attack), Vinnie (heart attack) Robert I.
(phenomena)--just a few of my Guardian Angels!!!!

Here's
also a piece of my heart for all those young people in their teens who
have suffered and died from AIDS because their parents and adults don't
care about 'kids' nor do they want the government to spend money on
helping them. I miss, and remember, each one of you.