Old Friends and Remembrances in My New Life

Recently, I had been going through some of my files, and items from my filing cabinet I threw out instead of moving to my new apartment. I was quite the little photographer at Summer Camps when disposable cameras were fun and exciting. I had found photos of my friends from a camp in 2004. I took pictures of them with my iPhone posted them on Facebook. One photo stood out especially to me. It had that look. It had a look that caught my attention. The central figure of that photo messaged me on Messenger and we began re-introducing ourselves. He is working as an Assistant Director for a Homeless Placement center in Arkansas. I am working at a Mental Institution and am in school to be a Nurse there.

He had asked me how long I was there which is coming up on a year pretty soon, and what made me interested in the career: was it a long time coming and so on? That question was exceptionally therapeutic. These last 10 years have been action packed, wild and filled with many unexpected twists and turns. All the information was in my psyche but actually answering the question gave me a delightful connection. Yes, it had been a long time coming. I was an English major and my girlfriend in college was a Psych major. She and I used to talk about what she was learning in class while we cuddled in my bed in my dorm. Or we used to talk about our English classes and she used to be jealous that that was my major (and I believe she ended up minoring in English, or at least thought about it.)

Eventually, I would take a job as an a 3D Artist welding and painting designer lamps. My house and workshop was across the street from a Halfway House & Food Bank. I would volunteer there and could take home all sorts of fresh produce. I always made the correlation that the Homeless and other visitors at the Food Bank would choose to take home Hostess snacks, chips, sodas, and junk food rather than the cases of fresh broccoli, produce, onions, and wholegrain breads which would be thrown out if I didn’t take it. Living there was fun. I could sort of be an unofficial councilor. We would hire a few of them to either do lawn work, or help move things. They would run and buy cigarettes or beer, and would go back and forth from being kicked out for coming back drunk. Once I woke up with one of them knocking on my window. Dunken. He needed a place to crash because he had been kicked out. I let him sleep on my front porch. He was halfway normal. He was only there because his wife took his house in his divorce. My friends and I used to watch Trailer Park Boys and made the correlation between the cultures.

Once, I was working late at night welding, painting and wiring when Danny, an Ex-Crackhead brought this pretty young lady into my workshop. She had been dropped off at the Halfway House, but not accepted due to the fact she was currently on drugs. She needed me to drive her to her friends down in one of those rough, country towns buzzing with meth. At the time, I had began my Yogic Journey, was practicing quite often, and studying texts on yoga and was actively following the steps. One of the 8 Limbs I was studying had to do with Karmic Yoga. It felt more like being Batman and living in a secret bunker or cave with tasks being brought to me. Daily practice. I drove her to her friends. She was in and out of consciousness, and talking in her “sleep”. I dropped her off, and went on my merry way back home. The following morning I had inquired at the Halfway House, whatever happened to her? She was in the hospital. She had been overdosing and her friends had to drop her off in the Emergency Room, but she was stable and expected to recover.

A few months later, I received a phone call from Dunken. He needed me to come pick him and Robert up from somewhere off in the country. They had fallen off the wagon, were drunk and Robert was “going to war” with the Halfway House. I had to be in class later that morning, and had very seriously considered hanging up. But, I got that sense. That sense that everything would be fine and I should just go pick them up real quick. They were exceptionally drunk, but seeing me sort of calmed Robert down. We got his things, and I loaded them up in my car and brought them back home. As soon as I unloaded Robert’s suitcases and proceeded to get myself to class, I looked back and Robert had collapsed out front. He was having a massive heart attack. The Director of the Halfway House phoned the ambulance. Robert would survive.

And so yes, my friend. It sort of has been a long time coming.

Last updated October 03, 2023