Page 6
Vendors
Mistie
Untitled
BY LEONORA KO
by Bryant King
C O N T R IB U T IN G W R IT E R
istie is thoughtful and articulate,
and she has hopes for the future.
Look not for beauty
Nor the color of skin
But for a heart that is
Loyal within
For beauty will fade
And skin will grow old
But a heart that is
Loyal will never
Grow cold
Nor will it fade away!
M
Answers to Page 15 Puzzles
She is also six weeks pregnant.
“I feel overwhelmed, but I’m excited,”
Mistie said.
“I’ve always wanted to be a mom, but at
the same time, I’m wishing that maybe
things were a little different. Like I had a
place besides a tent. I have a case manager,
who’s trying to help me get a place before
the baby’s born.”
Mistie grew up in Salem. When she was 6
months old, Mistie and her brothers were
removed from their parents, who were using
drugs.
“I bounced around from foster home to
foster home,” she said.
Mistie’s foster mother adopted her and
two of her brothers. She said her adoptive
mother was physically abusive and gave her
a scar on her head.
“I was kicked out of my adopted parents’
home when I was 18,” Mistie said.
Since then, she has been houseless, off
and on. Along the way, Mistie met her
biological father in Montana, lived with her
biological grandparents in Salem, and ended
up in Portland after attending her birth
mother’s wedding in the area.
Mistie is now 22 and wonders if she’ll
make the same mistakes as her parents.
“That’s always been a fear of mine,
being just like my mom. Or being the
complete opposite and being such a
softie that my kid gets away with
everything,” she said.
Mistie has experience taking care of
children. She is a godmother to her best
friend’s kids, and she previously had a day
Sheeptoast
Street Roots • October 20-26, 2017
care job in Montana.
Now she is taking steps to care for
herself during her pregnancy. She started
seeing a Legacy Health obstetrician, is
taking vitamins and is trying to eat enough
despite morning sickness. She is
considering parenting classes.
Most important, Mistie is clean and sober
and has been since before her pregnancy.
Mistie said she stays clean and sober by
selling the Street Roots newspaper.
“I go to (Narcotics Anonymous) meetings
sometimes ... but I just want to keep my
mind off of drugs, keep my mind off of
everything else. I sell the paper. And when
I’m selling the paper, I focus on the people
around me,” she said.
Mistie sells Street
Roots with her
husband near
Nordstrom at
Southwest
Morrison
Street and
Southwest
Park Avenue.
They were
married
through a
pagan
handfasting in July.
“I love the conversation and being able to
socialize with the (customers) because
there are a lot of people that are super
sweet,” she said.
With the help of a pastor at a street
church, Mistie has also gained perspective
and has forgiven her adoptive mother.
“I had a lot of anger towards my adopted
mom in the beginning,” she said. “But then
I started praying, and I came to realize that
maybe she didn’t know any better. Like
maybe that was the way she was raised and
that’s what she knew. So I’m not angry at
her anymore. She passed away last
December. It was really hard for me to lose
her because she was the only person I had
that was a mom.”
Mistie came to Portland because she
thought there would be more opportunity.
She has filled out many job applications, but
the lack of a GED has stalled her search.
Mistie said, “I want to finish getting my
GED and go to college ... One of the biggest
things I want to do is be a mentor for young
adults and teenagers who have grown up in
a foster care system. Because I can relate
with them, and I can help them understand
how to get through i t . ... I don’t want
everyone to struggle like this.
“I mean the struggle is hard. It’s real out
. People should understand there
story behind every person that’s
sitting out here.
I hope that I’ll have a place and
m going to raise the baby,” she
said. “And that my husband and I
can live together. I hope to have
good job eventually so that I
can provide my baby with
whatever they want.”
by Elizabeth Considine
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