My Life Is Musical Chairs

[CatherineM]

We take in young people, 18-25. Some have aged out of foster care. Some have developmental disabilities or mental illness. Some come from horrific histories. The past doesn't matter to us. If they want a fresh start, if they want to work at having a better future, we will help.

All we expect is progress, not perfection. They have to try. They have to be productive, go to school or work or volunteer. They have to be polite, they have to pitch in, and they have to follow the rules.

The rules are pretty simple. No drugs. No drunkeness or fights. No smoking in the building. No loud music after 10:00. If you have psych meds, you have to take them. Everyone gets physicals, eye exams, and teeth cleanings. Almost all need new underwear, socks, and new shoes. We make sure they have work clothes, steel toed boots, gloves, coats, whatever.

Some kids just need some mothering. Some need help with doing resumes, applying for jobs, applying for disability. Some need a home. Some just want a hot meal every once in a while. I'm not a saint, and I'm not a chump. I save my resources, financial and emotional, for those who really try. We kicked a kid out a week ago that had only been here a couple of months who got drunk every night. He broke two doors and kicked a hole in the drywall. Still we tried to help him find a decent place to live, but he chose what the cops here call the Suicide Hilton. It's next door to the homeless shelter downtown. Honestly, I never expected him to last long here.

Today though, we're having to take a guy to live with his Oxy addicted aunt. He has been here 9 months. Out of the blue, he started using drugs again. Oxys at his aunt's on Sunday when he told me he was going to church. Last night while we were gone, he had a pot party upstairs. He took the money I gave him for a tool he needed for work to buy the dope.

This one broke our heart. We already have another boy moving in. He's doing an apprenticeship with an electrician that doesn't pay enough to pay rent. He was sleeping in his car. So the struggle continues.

[PhuturePriest]

I'm so sorry that he gave you so much trouble. I hope the new kid is easier on you than the last one.

[AnneLine]

Catherine, you are doing the right thing, every step of the way.

 

But not the easy things.

 

Special prayers and :hug: for you tonight.   :console:

[CatherineM]

Coming home I saw our son, on his mountain bike, without a helmet, riding in the grass along the freeway. That's 80kph trucks buzzing past. I told him I'd ground him from chocolate milk for a month if I caught him doing that again.

[Nihil Obstat]

Coming home I saw our son, on his mountain bike, without a helmet, riding in the grass along the freeway. That's 80kph trucks buzzing past. I told him I'd ground him from chocolate milk for a month if I caught him doing that again.

That would probably work on me too.