Inside Ellie's Head

AIDS Walk LA 2008

There is a great amount of energy created, in addition to the money raised, when thousands of people stroll down the otherwise traffic congested streets of Hollywood in solidarity. There are love and compassion at play. A sense of generosity that penetrates through ones flesh and bones and into the soul. There is a sense of making a difference and being a part of something much bigger and much more profound than one person can achieve on his own. There is a sense of pride for the human qualities that have the power to inspire over 30,000 people to walk together and raise $3.2 million collectively.

Congratulations Walkers! 

Here are a few pictures I took with my camera phone. :)

I'd forgotten...

Looking through old boxes, cards and letters for every occasion, trinkets collected from all sorts of long-forgotten events, I realized today that I was much more loved, admired, and appreciated during my dreadfully painful teenage years than I realized or remember. I found cards from people who seem to appreciate and care about me a great deal. Cards that I never remember reading or seeing... But I must have read them. Their seals are broken after all.

I wonder, when I read those kind words, written by friends some still around and some long gone, how did I react? Did I brush them off and dismiss them as untrue and insincere? My recollection of those times is very different from what I read today in these letters today. 

I guess it's never too late to realize that I did actually have friends, real and caring ones, even when I felt mostly alienated much of the time.