 |
Paridon Williams, Vendor of the Week.
Photo by J.P. Gritton |
It’s hard to say exactly what it was
about Lessie Smith’s southern kitchen
in Tacoma. Maybe it was fried catfish or
it could have been cornbread or it could
have been the buzz of conversation over
sweet tea. But Paridon Williams, Lessie’s
son, thinks it was Lessie herself.
“Because of my mom’s spirit, she
brought that home feeling to everybody,”
says Williams, this week’s Vendor of the
Week. That warmth, says Williams, continues
to inspire him.
Lessie watched as Williams grew
from a baby to a kid and from a kid
into an adult. And, man, did he grow:
when high school graduation and then
college rolled around, Williams topped
out at 6’10’’, made for a basketball
court (talking to him kind of hurts my
neck). After college, Williams became a
professional photographer, capturing
everything worth remembering: weddings,
banquets, graduations, parties.
And between a job, a girlfriend, and a
mother, things were going grand.
But then came disaster.
“I was just not even existing,” remembers
Williams of the time after his
mother’s death. “I was just there.”
Rock bottom. The blues. Despair. Depression.
A funeral in your head. There’s a
million ways to put it, but none of them
really do. His relationship to his girlfriend
— and, well, the world — suffered.
But on his way to a psychiatrist appointment
Williams saw someone selling
Real Change.
“First couple days after selling the
paper,” says Williams. “I just knew it was
something I could do.” These days you
can find him at the Trader Joe’s in Burien
and the Redmond PCC on Avondale. The
paper, he says, “brings out a likeness” to
his mom.
“Selling Real Change made me realize
how much I was missing out on,” says
Williams. “Keep on smiling.” |
