Do you know? Do you know the good you've brought into this world? Do you know the impact you've had? Do you know how many people love you? Respect you? Want to be like you? Do you know that your life meant something? Meant everything. Do you know that you gave me a passion for knowledge and a stubborn independence? You gave me what I needed to survive.

"Let me help you!" He'd come to look at my trees. And tell me if I need to take on a fifth job. As we tromped through my unmowed, poison ivy-filled backyard to look at my trees, and potential impending poverty, Tree Dude glanced down at my flip flops. "Do me a favor? Wipe your feet off with rubbing alcohol when you go back inside?"