Old Age

The other night I was playing cards with Rick and the boys, when Lisa walked in. She's an eyeful, absolutely beautiful young lady. But she looks like she's in her late forties though shes only twenty-seven. I couldn't believe how old she looks. Still beautiful but old.

I remember when she came to to live with her dad, twelve years old, red/black hair. Her parents were divorced. Her dad a recovering alcoholic, worked eighty hours a week to provide for her and her siblings. They were a wild bunch. Lived on a ten acre patch of land with a few old outbuildings and a delapidated little house with a caving in foundation. All the neighbors organized a work be to rebuild the foundation. I remember think it was the most rundown place I'd ever seen.

By the time Lisa was sixteen she had had two miscarriages, and declared herself a lesbian. Then the year she graduated highschool she got married to a guy who hooked her on meth, cocaine and other drugs. They had a kid that had withdrawal in the hospital upon delivery from al sorts of crap. Social Service took custody before she was released from the hospital. She fought  em but couldn't stay clean long enough to pass a urine drug test.

She met up with another guy, who started taking her to church. She got pregnant, had another child with this fellow. She was baptized. She got clean, got custody of her other kid, and married this guy.

Things seemed pretty good. They had been married for six months when Lisa's husband put her in ICU for two months. Social Services took the kids, again. One of the stipulations for getting her kids back this time was legally seperating from her abuser. She divorced him, before she got out of the hospital and moved back in with her dad.

Now she's livng on her own again. shes got custody of both her kids. But man, she looks old. I just can't get over that.