A mother's love
a SAGA story
Colleen Brady
Issue date: 3/27/09 Section: News
Colleen Brady
Contributing Writer
Lizzy would give anything to be with her two little girls, but that wasn't an option. She watched as the children pumped their feet as they climbed higher into the blue sky on the swing sets.
She watched two sisters swing from the red monkey bars and their little boy build a house out of playground bark. Mothers chatted on the park bench close to their children, but Lizzy sat on a bench farther away. She often got uncertain stares from the mothers, so she kept her distance.
"I'm no different than any other person. I may not have the nicest clothes, the best hair, or a car to drive, but I'm human," Lizzy said.
Lizzy is homeless. She hates when people refer to her as that, as if that is her only quality. She is a mother of two beautiful girls, Janice and Lily. They are her world. She carries an old picture of her daughters in her pants pocket.
The wrinkling and fading of the picture make it hard to distinguish their faces, but by the way their mother describes them, anyone can tell they are her little angels.
She spends most of her time at the Beacon Road Park. She roams all around Lakeland, but that is her favorite spot. That's the place where the most children play during the day. She often finds herself wondering where everything went wrong.
Back in the '80s, Lizzy had the perfect life. She married her high school sweetheart, Clif, who gave her everything she needed. She was a stay-at-home mom, with expensive clothes, a beautiful house and had the typical all-American family. She had no worries in the world, except when it came to her daughters.
"Just when I thought everything was perfect, my world came crashing down," she said.
Clif's financial company began to fail, and they began fighting about everything, especially money. Lizzy was unfamiliar with the household's financial situation, since her husband took care of the funds.
"You just don't get it, do you Lizzy?" Clif would say. "We're running out of money and all you do is stand there."
Contributing Writer
Lizzy would give anything to be with her two little girls, but that wasn't an option. She watched as the children pumped their feet as they climbed higher into the blue sky on the swing sets.
She watched two sisters swing from the red monkey bars and their little boy build a house out of playground bark. Mothers chatted on the park bench close to their children, but Lizzy sat on a bench farther away. She often got uncertain stares from the mothers, so she kept her distance.
"I'm no different than any other person. I may not have the nicest clothes, the best hair, or a car to drive, but I'm human," Lizzy said.
Lizzy is homeless. She hates when people refer to her as that, as if that is her only quality. She is a mother of two beautiful girls, Janice and Lily. They are her world. She carries an old picture of her daughters in her pants pocket.
The wrinkling and fading of the picture make it hard to distinguish their faces, but by the way their mother describes them, anyone can tell they are her little angels.
She spends most of her time at the Beacon Road Park. She roams all around Lakeland, but that is her favorite spot. That's the place where the most children play during the day. She often finds herself wondering where everything went wrong.
Back in the '80s, Lizzy had the perfect life. She married her high school sweetheart, Clif, who gave her everything she needed. She was a stay-at-home mom, with expensive clothes, a beautiful house and had the typical all-American family. She had no worries in the world, except when it came to her daughters.
"Just when I thought everything was perfect, my world came crashing down," she said.
Clif's financial company began to fail, and they began fighting about everything, especially money. Lizzy was unfamiliar with the household's financial situation, since her husband took care of the funds.
"You just don't get it, do you Lizzy?" Clif would say. "We're running out of money and all you do is stand there."
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