Our Girls

"It’s hard to write exactly what I want to say about Charity, as her mother, there are so many different ages that I see in my head. This turns out to be true, for many of her friends and other family members as well. My cousin sees her as a baby, still small enough to hold in your arms. And some friends see her in elementary school. This would be the age I remember her doing the food drive for our humane society and the penny drive for Haiti after the big earthquake.

 I remember her at 15 and how beautiful she was as she walked me down the aisle for my wedding to her little brother’s dad. Her brother remembers doing things with her, like sleepovers at grandma’s, and camping. Her friends called her Char-bear, and remembered how caring she could be. 

 Mental health played a huge role in her life later on, and drug use, but even on the streets people remembered her smile. Those who knew her for the shortest time described her as a light in the dark. For me, that’s the thing I remember the most no matter what age. She had a smile that could light up the room."

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-- Diana Allen, Charity's Mother