grace and joy.

Merry Christmas, everyone! And the title has nothing to do with Christmas Greetings, really. I met Grace last week. She's about my age with a huge smile, a vivacious laugh and a vibrant personality. She was wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Joy is her daughter-- a three-year old who loves running around touching people's hair and giving compliments. Joy also loves music, and can plink out an 'artistic' rendition Jingle Bells on the piano. Grace told me about all the plans she has for Joy--swimming lessons, gymnastic lessons, piano lessons. Grace would do anything to protect her little Joy from the kind of life she's got. Grace is a prostitute and a great mom.

I was at the Marriott hotel last week, helping to host a party for the street girls of Toronto. The biggest thing that surprised me was how human they were. Laughing, singing Christmas carols with their kids, handing out Christmas cards and gifts.

And one rant against Wal-Mart. I met another wonderful woman at the party too. She works at Wal-Mart, but Wal-Mart won't give her enough shifts nor does it pay enough. Instead of going on welfare (which would probably give her more money, but seems more degrading for her), she has to work the corner the last week of every month in order to pay the bills. That makes me angry.