Friends

Today I decided once again to ignore Washington's cherry blossoms and instead go back to my old haunt, the train station where you can usually find all sorts of assorted characters.

It didn't disappoint. I usually don't 'prey' on the downtrodden, but Dominick (the guy in the middle) saw me pass by and immediately hammed it up for me. I couldn't resist. 

I spent the better part of an hour chatting (well, mostly listening) to him and his friends, Precious (left) and Vernet (right). I heard many stories of what it's like to live on the street but also what shelters are like. Unless the weather is truly horrible, all three prefer to find a spot on the street than to enter shelters where they say they've been robbed as well as 'touched inappropriately.' We chatted about where we all came from (turns out Dominick was born on a US base in Manheim, which is 30mns from my hometown), what we like to do (Precious said she always dreamed of being an actress), and how messed up the world seems to be nowadays.

At the end of it all, I asked for a picture. I showed them what it looked like and got bear hugs from all three with promises to check them out when I next stop by.

It takes so little to make people feel good about themselves :)