I call your bluff.

 

I have been told multiple times throughout my life that I have never been dealt a good hand. For years and years, this is something that I believed.

Could it be that the hand that was dealt to me was not ready to be played? Maybe I had never found a table good enough to play my hand.

Perhaps the hand I was dealt—the hand that for some reason I held on to—maybe it needed to gain some real-life experience. Along with the experience comes understanding, great knowledge, and excellent skill.

Today, as I have sat at tables with our Mayor, leaders of our city government, board presidents, agency representatives, and many more, we begin discussing ideas and options, coming up with plans and goals that could better the lives of our homeless. The hand I'm holding, the same hand I was dealt in life, as I play my hand, it has become hard to beat, if beatable at all.

I am proud of the hand that I've been dealt, and I am honored to sit at these tables to represent my Homeless family. It is the hand I've been dealt in life, the hand I let mature, the one that I let grow. I can now play my hand to better the lives of many.

We are all children of God. We all have a place and a purpose. You should never, ever look down on anyone. You don't have the right to count someone out, because we do not know our future. Only God knows our plans.

One of the people who told me she believed that I was dealt an unfair hand would have taken me in if she could have. She is now in Heaven.

Here on earth, my Aunt loved and adored me. She never looked down on me, and she believed in me. She thought I was a special person. She was one of the few to never cast doubt about who I was.

I know that from the glory of Heaven, she is very proud of me. It is as if I can feel her applauding me and rejoicing from her home in Heaven for what I've been able to turn my unfair hand into.

This one's for you, Aunt Donna.

I love and miss you.