Commentary: Fresh Start for Sober Single Homeless Woman
by Marguerite Perdue
My name is Marguerite Perdue and after being homeless for over three long years, I was more than overjoyed, excited, and anxious that I moved into transitional housing at the Hitchcock Center for Women. It’s a fresh new start for a totally different life and living for me, which I must say that God’s path has lead me to. I have a lot of information to share that will help single females if their willing to go through any lengths to obtain and keep a sober living environment.
There are several very intelligent women whom I look up to, and can speak very, very highly of that. They helped me get where I am today, and I honestly had gave up all hope on all of my situation, that’s when I finally surrendered myself to let go, and let God. With all due respect, I’d like to thank Rhonda Fletcher for giving me my fresh start at my new life, which would begin October 8, 2004.
I honestly envy this woman with all my heart, mind, and soul, because as much as I’ve been through and dealt with and just wanted to seriously give up, Rhonda gave me hope once again, and I’ll never, ever let her or myself down. She let me see that I could actually live a clean and sober life and be happy. Even though I’m also losing my sight due to glaucoma I have never been happier in all my life. I have my own key once again and people that are not phony, but actually do care. Rhonda is the most outstanding, totally remarkable woman that I’ve ever come to know. She’s the only woman besides my mother that I trusted once again in my life and she didn’t let me down, out of a thousand different people and programs and promises that were made to me. Rhonda’s the only individual that did exactly what came out of her mouth.
So it’s very true that you can trust in someone even when that’s very hard to do. I’ve always been totally independent, and always worked. Four months ago I was diagnosed with glaucoma, which causes blindness. I’m not legally blind, but the little sight that I’ve got left I’ll use to the very best of my ability to do whatever’s needed for me too learn how to live a life without my sight. Everything happens for a reason and I totally trust in God that I’ll never be alone during this period in my life. When you accept the reality of any situation in your life, and trust in God you can’t and won’t lose. The spiritual awakening that has come upon my life had truly taught me a valuable lesson. When certain consequences occur in people’s lives and change is needed, it can be a definitely good thing and I include myself in this perception.
The concept of knowing and understanding that God knows what’s best in an individual’s life is the most important lesson, and in all reality, many people don’t realize they will see a new light in life. Just remember in all reality, it’s God’s way, not our way, and the sooner people come to know that, the better off they’ll be. In turn this would make a much better world and it would be much easier to deal with what society had to offer if everyone followed this lesson. Living life on life’s terms when you trust totally in God isn’t that complicated. I’m so very glad to know that experience is the best teacher, and that knowledge is wisdom and the wise are supposed to get wiser. That’s why I listen and observe at all costs, and it’s truly paid off. To each and every homeless individual I say, just don’t give up, because you’ll never know what God has in store for you.
I’ve been truly blessed, even through my times of loneliness and despair, which occur often since I’m not able to do for myself like I used to because of my glaucoma. I pray constantly that God will allow me to see my brother Otis Perdue Jr., who moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and my son Mark Anthony Perdue, and also Carlos Antonio Perdue before I go completely blind. I haven’t seen my boys since my brother moved, and after my mother passed away. We all separated, which was something that we promised my mother we wouldn’t do, but things happen that we don’t understand. We just have to do our best in dealing with certain situations, which isn’t easy at times.
It hurts that I have to deal with my situation of going blind, along with being lonely, but this has to be the way God wants it, and I definitely can’t question him. But to be perfectly honest with you, I’ve never been happier, and there’s always someone who’s worse off than I. There are plenty of times that I feel totally out of place with other people because they don’t know that I’m going blind, but I just pray to my Jesus that he keeps me sane.
My higher power is so very awesome, and I will continue to follow the path that God had chosen for me. I’ve learned that it can’t be my way anymore, only His way, and that’s a wonderful thing. I’ve only been at Hitchcock Center for Women six days. But what I’ve experienced in that amount of time had already shown me what my life can be like as long as I stay clean and sober. Patience is truly a virtue, and I never had an ounce of patience until I met and spoke with Rhonda. If you’re interested in living a clean and sober life style, all you need to have to do is trust in God, clean house, help others, and contact Rhonda Fletcher and the Hitchcock Center for Women at 421-0662. This is where the healing begins. Its more than a great honor to me that Rhonda gave me this great opportunity to reside at Hitchcock Center for Women, and it gives me great pleasure to know that I am some body once again. As long as I continue to put all my trust in God, everything else will fall into perspective.
There’re a lot of organization and opportunities for single homeless females; you just have to take the time and look into them. I’d like to thank each and every individual who reads this article with the hope that it’ll reach someone in need of help. A very special thanks to Rhonda Fletcher for believing in me enough to give me a start on a new way of living life. Now I can live in the proper perspective that I was once used to. Last but not least, I’d like to give a very special thanks to my peers for helping me through my times of despair. There’s one very, very unique and special person that I’d like to thank and want her to know that I truly with all my heart appreciate her for assisting me with this article with reading and spelling. She’s a beautiful person who’s young, intelligent, and has a lot of courage, just as I did when I was her age. Thank you Andrea Dent and Wynter Smith.
Copyright Homeless Grapevine Issue #67 Cleveland, Ohio December 2004