Homeless For One Hour

Last week I was homeless for one hour.  Which I realize is a ridiculous statement and I am in no way trying to equate my experience with that of a person who is truly without a home, day in and day out.  But that one hour led to an epiphany of sorts.  I'll try to explain.

My younger son had tickets to a concert in Seattle, which is a 45 minute drive from our house on a good day, with no traffic.  Which rarely happens.  So we'll call it an hour and a half drive into the city.  T has had his license for a year, but he hasn't had a lot of experience with rush hour traffic, or city driving.  Plus, the venue wasn't in the best part of town.

I decided that the only way he and his friend were going to attend this concert was to be chauffeurred by me.  I would find something to do during the show, and then pick them up when it was over. 

I dropped the boys off at 6:30pm, then headed to the mall.  Several hours of uninterrupted shopping, all to myself!  The stores closed at 9:30pm, so I figured the timing would be perfect to grab the guys at 10, and be back home by 11.  

As is the norm with my brilliant plans, however, I hadn't quite thought it all the way through. I forgot the part where they were seeing an alternative rock band, the Arctic Monkeys, who notoriously don't start or end concerts on "normal person" time.  I texted T at 9:30 as I was heading to my car to see if the show was almost over.  Umm...not even close.  They had just taken the stage 15 minutes before.

Suddenly I had at least an hour and a half to kill, downtown, on a Monday night.  Now what was I going to do?  I drove around until I discovered a well lit grocery store lot, and found a parking spot.  The no loitering sign said I could only stay for 60 minutes.   I figured I could read my book....except I forgot my reading glasses.  Bummer.

I'm downtown, it's late, I'm tired, and I'm bored.  Interesting characters are roaming around the parking lot, and I'm waiting for security to come and boot me out.  Did I mention it was HOT?  It had been 90 in Seattle that day, and the night time temperature was still quite high.  I was nervous about keeping my windows down (see interesting characters above).  Then the thunder and lightning storm started.

That's when I began to feel sorry for myself.  All I could think about was how much I wished I was home in my comfy living room, watching television, safe and sound.  

Just then, I swear, a homeless man walked in front of my car, pushing a shopping cart that was probably filled with every earthly possession he owned.  At that moment the reality of his situation versus mine smacked me in the head, and I felt ashamed.  

At least I had my car to shelter me from the rain and lightning.  If someone came and told me to get out of the parking lot, I could drive to another spot.  I only had to put up with this situation for ONE HOUR. And then I could go back to my beautiful home and my warm bed.

What is my point with this long, rambling story?  I'm not sure exactly.  What I do know is that I can't get that homeless man out of my mind.  He couldn't get out of the storm, and was probably constantly looking over his shoulder, waiting for the next person to move him along, rob him, or worse.  He had no where to go, and his situation wasn't going to get better in an hour.

I have no idea how he ended up walking through that parking lot with his life in a shopping cart. There are many, many reasons why someone ends up homeless, and just as many difficulties to get them back on their feet.  I don't know what the solution is.  Sitting in my car last Monday, watching that man, I felt such sadness, but I also had a realization. There are so many horrible things going on in the world, and while they don't touch me physically, my heart, mind and soul are affected.  Doing SOMETHING must be a step in the right direction.

Getting back to volunteering is one of my goals for the fall.  No more discussion - it's time for action.  I will be looking into opportunities to do some sort of work that benefits the homeless. Any suggestions would be appreciated.  I also came across this great blog post about creating blessing bags to keep in your car.  I wish I had one last Monday night.

Today's problems are huge, and I am very small.  But even the smallest efforts add up over time.  I may have been homeless for only one hour, but hopefully the epiphany I had will last a lifetime.