I am creating this post in real time. It’s 6 am on Friday,
February 8. It has been a busy week – both for action and thinking. My mind has
been focused on immediate realities, not so much long-term. Here’s a bit of my
journal:
Monday: family
friends I’ve been helping called to let me know their adult son was in hospital
again for alcohol poisoning. The son lives in a shelter, found a job, worked it
for over a month, was sober 105 days, actually put a deposit on shared space in
an apartment with co-workers, then became upset, failed to show up for work,
hid in a local motel, drank and turned his back to the world. Mom and dad,
meanwhile, were evicted from their senior citizen apartment facility and moved
to the same motel their son had chosen. One year of work with them over in a
trice with no positives.
With a free day suddenly available, we continued our quest
for a vehicle Rocky could enter and exit more easily than our small car. We
found a used SUV but Rocky didn’t want to go into debt for a used car. We
explored our Hyundai dealer’s previous offer for a lease of a similar vehicle. It
took all day to arrange the transaction, but we did so successfully and
affordably. We drove home in a new 2019 Hyundai Tucson SUV. Nicely equipped for
old people who twist and turn easily, it is perfect for Rocky to get in and out
of with Parkinson’s Disease.
Shortly after I kept my 7 pm date with the Writers
Connection at the library. I read two of my recent blogs for critique. It was a
fun evening after a difficult day of at the auto dealership.
Tuesday: I had an
early Coumadin Clinic appointment, Rocky had an appointment with his diabetes doctor,
and I had lunch with the family friends with problems reported on Monday. The
hospital released the son with encouragement to continue his sobriety journey
and extra meds to ease the next few days. They urged him to return to work on this
very day; he did, and his boss told him to return on Wednesday to meet with
him; an ominous sign. The rest of the meal we talked of what his action steps
should be given the variables as they unfold. If he loses his job, he needs to
find out about the apartment he has a deposit on, and whether he can get the
money back. Then check if the shelter will welcome him back. Also, will shelter
staff help him get a mental health assessment from a local state facility. The rest
of the lunch talk focused on urging the parents to continue their search for affordable
housing. I returned them to the motel with hopes that maybe they had turned a
corner.
I then focused on the opening session of Nexus scheduled for 6:30 that evening.
An ice storm was forecast and arrived right on time – 5:30 pm. Rush hour
traffic was slow and tedious. Streets and vehicles were coated in ice. We didn’t
expect a good turnout for Nexus. We were right: 5 showed up. We carried on and
used the session as an organizing meeting. We are good to go and will share our
decisions for all who attend in the future. Group consensus will tweak the
process as we gain experience. Then home.
Wednesday: laundry,
bathroom and kitchen cleaning day. Followed by grocery shopping. I wrote some
blogs, caught up on internet and email traffic and took a long nap in the
afternoon. My body was regaining its equilibrium from the previous two days.
Thursday: learned
my family friends had encountered more trouble. The son had indeed lost his job
and the apartment was not refundable even though it was related to the
employment he now no longer had. The shelter did keep him housed and promised
to help him with his troubles going forward. A sigh of relief in at least one
corner of his life.
I continued to save my energy, bought a pair of long-needed
shoes, and napped luxuriously.
Friday: here I am
relating the above. I have a mentoring appointment this morning and look
forward to helping my client with her business plans. Later I will learn if my
family friends, the parents, have a list of apartments to visit today. Surely,
one of them will accept them into their facility! We can hope.
In retirement one is not idle. The activity keeps the mind
and body functioning. And so, it does. This blog is proof of that. I’ll be back
on Monday.
February 8, 2019
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