Where do we go from here?

Sara Smile won't you smile a while for me Sara
Hall and Oates - Sara Smile (1976)

"Never did I think it would be my own family, my own sisters."

A young Angie at work at the Fruitvale restaurant

Angie and her sons Tremaine and Treyvion

Angie and her mom Dorothy Everett

It is love that keeps a family together when they have lost someone special.
              - Sarah Angie Everett Fuqua

On this Labor Day as we celebrate workers we launch the Sarah Smile Blog.  For the next 30 days leading up to her birthday October 3rd, we will share some of her emails and Facebook post.  Sarah, Angie as she was called by family and friends, worked in the Everett and Jones Barbeque family business since she was thirteen.  She was the youngest of nine siblings, the baby, and a hard worker.  She gave her life to the family business and worked hard to make it a success.  
Sadly Angie passed away in October last year from cancer. Her last years were a struggle for survival and a fight to leave something for her two sons.  Through emails, letters, Facebook posts, chats and video here is Sarah's story in her own words.
  
On Thursday, February 14, 2013 at 5:48 PM, Sarah Angie Everett Fuqua wrote to her
older sister Helen

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Angie Everett Fuqua <[email protected]>
To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> 
Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2013 5:48 PM
Subject: Where do we go from here....?????

Hi Helen, the conversation we had today is still on my heart. If someone had told me my family would end up like this, (not speaking, fighting over our inheritance), never in a million years would I have believed them. See, I use to think we were special, that my family had something that other families didn't have and that is "more love" for each other. The song for the family was "We are Family," one part says, I got all my sisters with me. I guess the joke was on me.

When Mom died we became broken. Someone told me that at Mom's funeral, that a preacher got up and said, “People were going to be watching us, and some wanted us to fail."  I thought the preacher was talking about outsiders, never did I think it would be my own family, my own sisters. The devil set a trap, and some family members fell right in because of their  own self-dealing, greed and wanting control.  For me to experience all the lies, deception, greed,  and chaos that's happened in this family has taken a toll on my body.

To claim that I, my sisters, brother, my children or any other members of the Everett & Jones family don't deserve to have an interest in the business is ludicrous. You've told me several times to walk away, now you're saying for my son to walk away. Well, I'm not you and you don't know how I feel and if I could walk I wouldn't.

This is what I want, what I have worked hard for over the years to do. That's  why our history is so important, knowing where we came from, getting to where we're going, and enjoying the fruits  of our labor. That should be for all of us not just a few....Family isn't just the same blood line,  love and loyalty goes along with it. Where is the love and loyalty we're supposed to have for one another. I don't know what it's going to take to heal our family, I do know there is a lot of hurt and pain here now. This is a letter that I wrote to Dorothy and John back in Dec and their response....

On Mon, Dec 31, 2012 at 6:49 PM, Angie Everett Fuqua <[email protected]> wrote:

From: Angie Everett Fuqua <[email protected]>
To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> 
Sent: Monday, December 31, 2012 6:49 PM
Subject: Angie's hardship request

Hello Dorothy and John....it's been a long time. I'm writing you today to ask if I can get some financial help from Super Que LLC....I'm having hardship and can't pay my bills.  I'm no longer able to work because of my knees and back. Tremaine and Treyvion don't make enough to take care of all our needs. I went to the doctor back in August and they gave me some pain pills and a 1400 dollar bill that I had to ask for charity on so they deducted 600 dollars off the bill..  The doctor said I need to have therapy and maybe surgery, but I can't afford either because I don't have health insurance. I'm always in pain and can't sleep. Many days there's no food in my house, I go to different food banks for food. My landlord says we'll have to move because I'm always late with the rent, I still owe him now 400.00 for this month and rent is due again by Saturday, I have no money to move with to pay a first and last deposit with, I don't want to be homeless. I called the CPUC today for help with my pge they gave me till Monday to pay 200. All I want is a roof, pge, water and food. I'm in a real dire situation, barely surviving can Super Que help me?

Sincerely Angie

This is their response:

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: John Jernegan <[email protected]>
To: Angie Everett Fuqua <[email protected]> 
Sent: Monday, January 21, 2013 3:42 PM
Subject: Re: Angie's hardship request

Hi Angie,
I am sorry to hear of your hardship.  As a member of Super Que, LLC you are entitled to a share of the profit or loss of the business.  Super Que has run at a loss every year it has been operating, so we have not distributed any returns.  I believe this year the business will record a net gain that will be distributed to everyone that has a financial interest.  I am making it a priority to complete the accounting for the year so that I can forward you your share as soon as possible.  
John

One more thing:
Love..... bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things'' 1 Corinthians 13:7.  Some people are optimists; some are pessimists; some are realists; some are idealists; some are cynics, some are positive. But the people who are most positive and most appealing to others are those filled with love. Love knows how to handle and understand everything life brings.  Love not only shelters, it identifies – it sympathizes and empathizes. To use modern terminology, love “feels the pain” of those who are covered by it. Jesus loved us when He bore our grief’s and sorrows and was wounded, bruised, and chastised for us (Isaiah 53:4-5). It is that reality that is the heart of the Christian gospel: Christ taking our sins upon himself.  When we love someone, we will enter into the hard places in his or her life and shoulder their burdens for them and with them. We don’t stand apart and watch another person suffer. We enter in and pay the price necessary for their well-being. 

It is love that goes into trenches, lives in the trenches, and comes out unshaken.  Love is an action word, it doesn't lie, cheat or steal,  it doesn't cover up and it doesn't go along with wrong. It is the love that keeps marriage partners together when all seems lost. It is the love that keeps a parent praying and waiting for a prodigal child to return and it is love that refuses to give up on a best friend who is struggling to stay in the path of righteousness. It is love that keeps a family together when they have lost someone special.

At the end of 1 Corinthians 13 we read that “the greatest...is love” (verse 13). Love is the virtue that bears, believes, hopes, and endures all things. Make sure that it is your greatest virtue…the virtue others see most clearly in you.   God bless

Angie