Tuesday, January 4, 2011

I've been Waiting a Long Time...

If there’s one thing that becomes part of your life the fastest if you’re homeless, it’s waiting in lines. There are lines for food, lines for a bed, lines to get into a building for shelter. Honestly, I’m getting sick of lines.

It’s not just standing in line that becomes an essential part of every day, however. There’s just a lot of waiting and then rushing. Hurry up and wait takes on a life of it’s own for the homeless, especially in big cities. Back when I was in Rapid City, South Dakota (which seems like a very long time ago now that I think about it) I can remember waiting in a line of about 30 to 50 people to be served dinner. At the time, it seemed like I was waiting forever. These days I get all excited if there are only 50 people in the line.

This morning I waited for 6:30 until about 11:30 to take a shower and do my laundry. Right now I’m clean and my clothes are clean. It’s been 7 weeks since I’ve been able to say that I’m clean and so is everything I’m wearing. It’s an incredible feeling; vaguely familiar, but only vaguely. I feel as though I’ve never waited so long for anything, but I’ve also never been so happy to wait for something. I’ve waited for meals that were tasty and filling and they made me happy, but the feeling of being clean outweighs any full belly. Ha! Not literally though, I guess.

This morning I saw a raccoon! 


He was decidedly unhappy about being paparazzied. “Then stop being so famous!” I say.

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