Suzanne

I met Suzanne when I was 12 years old. At the time, I was employed by the City of Richfield and I cleaned houses for old peeps. Carrie was one of the women I cleaned for, and she passed away, leaving her house to her granddaughter, Suzanne.
At the time, Suzanne was newly divorced with a little baby- my first baby, Colleen. She was 6 months old when I came into their lives. Suzanne had been in a car accident and her back was not well. She wondered if I would like to keep coming once a week to clean, and if I'd be interested in being her babysitter. WOULD I!? I was so happy and excited. Colleen was- and still is- the worlds BEST KID EVER. She's 20 now, but still. She's awesome.
Suzanne held a very, very important place in my life. While I went through the most horrible years ever, she listened to me. She did NOT agree with choices I made, but she LISTENED to me! It was relieving, and she was in a position to offer me advice that I could and would listen to. She also seemed to understand some of what I was going through- abusive relationships and eating disorders. As I grew older, and grew up, our relationship changed, as it does. She is now my friend. I still respect her ideas and opinions, even if they are different than mine. She is a very sound person. Colleen is 20, Michael is almost 16, and I'm still cleaning her house once a week.
She was definitely a gift from God. Even she doesn't know how much relief she brought to me in those times. It's so hard to bring some of the stuff to parents, parents who know more than we do, and know better than we do and can see way clearer than we can....and it was a blessing to have an adult that seemed to accept me for who I am and what I was going through. I'm sure when I left she may have hit her knees in shock, I'm sure she cried about things I did, but while in my presence, she remained calm and seemed unfazed by anything I said. THANK YOU, SUZANNE. I truly don't know what I would have done....sometimes I felt so alone that I just wanted to die. THANK YOU. And thanks for keeping me in your life. You guys are family after all this time. THANK YOU!