So much that could be said. Today was one of extremes. In the midst of my joys there was a time of sadness, and I was reminded of just how very different things could have been, had the circumstances of my life been a little altered.
When my dog Tammy and I were traveling west across America, we spent a few months in San Diego. I figured that we had gone as far west as we could, might as well try to stay. So we were there from Thanksgiving until March.
I'll never forget all of the homeless people that I saw there. And very nearly all of them obviously with mental illness of some kind or another.
I suppose I was homeless too, although I still had a car loaded with the essentials, waiting to be unpacked wherever our new home was going to be. I had a warm hotel room to return to. I was never close to being on the street, not knowing where the next meal was coming from.
But had things gone different, it could have been me. Alone. Driven mad from a lack of counseling and medication. Far from where I started in an alien city.
"There but for the grace of God..."
I had to say goodbye to my most longtime client today. He was the first person I started working with as a peer support specialist. He is in a place where he'll most likely be at for the rest of his life. He can't take care of himself. He has no family or friends to help him. He's getting psychiatric services there, so he doesn't need me or my team anymore.
I had to tell a 69 year old man today that I couldn't see him anymore and he broke down crying and it's been haunting me all day.
Amid this, there is the other end of the spectrum:
I think God may have led me to someone very special.
And I am looking forward to watching how things go between us.
More soon.
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