We were born, born to be wild
We can climb so high
I never wanna die”
~ Steppenwolf
What happens when a child of the streets, grown from the mires of Cedartown, raised partially in Glenn’s bar, wild and full of hell and all it’s fury, grows up?
Even before taking a breath there was the environment. The cause and effect of liquid highs and the sentimentalities and loyalties of the street. She had no other course. Be what was known. Be bigger, tougher, Wilder…
‘Climb so high’ without thinking about death, abuse, jail, living in the toxic. Living on those same streets that her parents helped tear up years before. I don’t know her story well enough to give you the specifics. But I do know her now. I’ve pieced together a pretty solid picture of what really matters. How a street-smart kid from Cedartown has become a passionate force. Not just an advocate, but a storm of fury towards the life she once lived, a battering ram to knock down the walls built of the stigma of the poor and the addicted life she knew so well.
A heart that is so tender, shielded behind the windshield of a Teal & Chrome Harley.
The Wild didn’t die. It did go through struggles and hardships that I have gleamed, heard of, been trusted with. And those parts of all of us make us stronger if we let them. For her, walking through the elements to get to a job on third shift to feed her family. Going to school. Fighting to not be one of the Polk County casualties. Working as a Case Manager, Peer Leader, Therapist in that same community that she once terrorized.
I admit, and I’ll get crap from her later for saying this, I want to be more like her. Alive. Passionate. Focused on trying to fix a system that shutters when she comes through the door. The State of Georgia was so scared that they hired her!
But she is also my friend. Someone I deeply care about. I’ve listened as she cried when her son was caught up in the same world that she fought so hard to move beyond. I know that she has helped me more than I thought possible to take my own hurts and use them. Not dwell in them. Maybe if we took a moment and tried to be as passionate, we would find places in our own lives to grow from instead of wallow.
So I’m saying thanks. Wrayanne, you truly rock!
Born to be Wild.
I’m going to say, that every time I think of relapsing I remember asking her? Wrayanne how did you do it? She said I realized only 3 out of a 100 made it and I meant I was going to be one of those 3. I remember it all the time.
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