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| It's really hard sometimes, because I really care about a homeless man, and homeless people are hard to keep track of. I'll tell the story of how my dad became homeless another time. Let me tell you know of how beautiful today was.
Dad has been bouncing around in different homeless shelters in Florida for 2+ years.He always calls my brothers and I on our birthdays, but otherwise we hear very little from him. My birthday is in July, my younger brother's is in November, and my older brother is in March. The spaces between are desolate stretches of time during which I fear that my dad is ill or has passed on.
Last month, Dad was approved for social security, and now has a bit of an income. He flew back to Michigan, and I drove to my hometown for a chance to see him. So today, for the first time in three years I got to see my dad.
I started awake at 8am; I hadn't set an alarm, but I was too afraid of oversleeping to do so. I got dressed and ready and drove to the shelter where Dad told me that he'd be staying. I walked in and asked for him, and soon he was flushed out to the common area and to a grateful hug from me. Soon we jumped in my car and headed to a bank; Dad is not able to walk more than a block at a time, and so we spent an hour and a half doing errands that would have taken him most of the day.
Dad bought me breakfast. I have a full-time job and I bring in twice what he now brings in from social security, but he insisted and it was a lovely thing.
You know, I'm trying to put into words what today meant to me, but it's just not possible. I missed my dad. Even when he was angry, drunk, or in jail, he was my dad. I don't know what the hardest part about having a homeless parent is. I worry about him, I miss him, contact is limited, he suffers a lot, he feels alone and disconnected, and I feel helpless to change anything.
The good news is that Dad is definitely sober, and that with income, his circumstances will be a little better. He's reluctant to find an apartment (it's the lease/commitment that gets him), and maybe he'll waste all his money on cigarettes, pop, and his friends. But he's a person, and today was a good day.
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| This whole week has been and will be pretty busy and exciting.
Today I met my Little Sister, who I'll be mentoring through the Big Brothers Big Sisters program. My LS is pretty quiet, at least for now, but she likes to eat, enjoys being active, and can think critically about her friends' behavior. I'm impressed. It is going to take me some time to adjust to how I should treat her; I need to explain some things and shouldn't explain other things that I say. (I explained what an internship was to her, but she already knew. I don't want her to think that I think she's ignorant.) We got shakes and fries today, sat in the park for a bit, drove by my apartment, and completed some paperwork.
Other things occurring (or that have occurred recently) include:
A friend of mine is being chrismated this Sunday (there's a party afterward)
I have an interview on Monday
I work a double this Tuesday
My sister is coming back from Africa on Sunday
An old roommate is visiting us right now
We have a party to cater at work on Saturday
So, I read "The Time Traveler's Wife" this week, and I DO NOT RECOMMEND IT. The story was decent, and the idea was great; the delivery and characters were rough. Henry (the time traveler) is an amoral criminal, and although he was so to survive, he did things that were not necessary to survive as well. Clare doesn't have much personality, and there's not much to say about her. All other characters were quite minor and had little impact on the story other than dialogue and excursions in the plot. Basically, Clare knew Henry from a young age and had no real choice in marrying him. The narration of the story is at times confusing (Niffenegger uses frequent dream sequences), and as often as not, she tells the reader what's coming but fails to deliver a gripping description when the event occurs. As a final blow, on at least three occasions the author mentions a "fat person" and insults them causelessly. For example, an opera singer is referred to as a cow, but she sings well. Why does it matter if she's overweight? If it needs to be mentioned, it does not have to be done in such a manner; Niffenegger is perpetuating a negative attitude toward a population of people who don't need extra reasons to feel bad about themselves.
Now I am reading "The Goose Girl" by Shannon Hale, and since I loved "Princess Academy" so much, I expect that I'll appreciate this new book at least as much. | | |
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And by latter-day, I do not mean "Mormon."
So, this out-of-no-where post was instigated by a TV show I watched. You see, we only really use the TV in my apartment once a week to watch "The Big Bang Theory" (which is growing dull, btw), but my roommate Nicki and I happened to watch House over a bowl of chili this evening. The main patient in the episode was an avid blogger, and I missed my old blog here on Xanga.
And that's how it all came about.
Here I am, no longer a 'recent college graduate', and I'm still adjusting to real life and it's strange hue. It's the oddest things that jump out at me as big contrasts from life in college. For instance, obviously the money situation is different. I make much more money, and I work twice as much, but I have less to spend on frivolities than in the past. I guess that this fact is more obvious than I thought at first.
In other news, I had started a vlog, and it was progressing nicely, but due to terrible equipment (that due to the topic of the last paragraph I am neither willing nor capable of upgrading) and such, I haven't managed to upload anything new lately, although I have made videos. I was really enjoying the whole endeavor, so I'm pretty disappointed and frustrated about the whole thing.
Well, maybe I'll get back into the swing of blogging instead.
Thanks for reading! | | |
| Time.
I can't see the summer through the tasks. :) And here, I thought that I would have to blog a bunch in order to figure out how I am feeling. Silly me.
In other news, I've decided that human beings are basically sad and lonely beings, no matter what the movies tell us. Except I know, of course, that if I have a virus-free new laptop, an iPod nano, an apartment on Wealthy, a steady boyfriend and a Lexus, that I will then be happy. And so will you. Silly us. | | |
| CareTaker: A person responsible for the care and supervision of a child or children.
I acted like a mom all week, and although I think that I did well, real Mom does much better. My sister is moving, and so she and her husband went to prepare some things before the big move. While they were away, I took care of their 4 kids. We got through the week with very little misbehavior; in fact, only the three-year-old got punished in any real way. I had a lot of fun, and I learned how to best encourage children to do as they ought... I also learned quite a bit about myself.
Patience, I learned, is actually something that I possess. I was able to sit and coach my nieces through their homework, wait while my nephew found his words to spit out what he wanted to say, and I have retained my desire to care for kids in some way in the future. (My other sister who is not a mom always says that spending time with these kids makes her "uterus shrink.")
Also, I give COMPLETE kudos to stay-at-home parents out there. The job takes a lot of perseverance, patience, multi-tasking, Beyond this, there is a lot of sacrifice that occurs. I see why celibacy and a marital state are equally valued in God's eyes: although being celibate allows the person to dwell on God at all times and serve in varied ways that a person with a family cannot, a parent gives so much to their children. How do I even broach the topic of what a parent gives? Every waking moment their thoughts are on their children; whether it's "what's for dinner? Natalie hates goulash" or, "Bus will be here in 10 minutes" or just being aware that the three-year-old is in the living room.
Parents, I respect you so much!
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