Okay, so I haven't written a blog in a while. I've been a little busy. Life has changed a lot since my last blog. In May, my Daddy passed away. It was a long road for him to go down. Cancer stinks! I wouldn't wish it on anyone. Saying goodbye to him was hard but I know that he is not in pain anymore and that gives me great comfort. I'm not a sappy person. I try to always be strong. I hate to cry. Dealing with the death of a loved one is never easy but after seeing him suffer so long, it was bittersweet. The night that he was dying, my sisters and I sat with him all night long and we laughed and we cried and we laughed some more and we cried some more. Laughing is our coping mechanism. We sat around telling funny stories about things that we used to do to our parents and things that they would do to us. One time, Daddy took a nap on the couch and I painted his fingernails candy apple RED!! Then I couldn't find the polish remover. It was funny to me but he wasn't as amused as I was! My sister and I would tape the handheld water sprayer so that when Daddy or Katherine (my stepmother who was my mother!!) would turn on the kitchen faucet, the water would squirt them. Again, they didn't find it as amusing as we did, especially when they were trying to cook dinner!! Our parents had a little payback and would do things to embarrass us too. We grew up in a small town and all there was to do was ride around town and park at the carwash and talk to our friends. One night they drove through town to get some ice cream and saw us sitting at the carwash with all of our friends. We watched in horror as they turned around and rolled down the windows and cranked up their radio to the worst country western music they could find and they pulled in the carwash and drove around and around us yelling "Hey Colette. Hey Denise" and blowing the horn! Our friends thought it was hilarious. We weren't as amused as they were. We did have some great times together. We love them and miss them both dearly. (Katherine passed away 3 years ago, also of cancer.)
At my Dad's funeral, the pastor read some passages from the Bible and some from my Dad's favorite book. It's called "The Dash" by Linda Ellis. It talks about the dates on your headstone. There is your date of birth and the day that you died but what matters most is the "dash" between those dates. It got me to thinking about my dash. My dash has held some great times and some not so great times. Some fun times and some sad times. Wonderful dates are what that dash is made of. September 21, 1996. My wedding day. October 12, 1999. The day my son was born. August 22 & 23, 2014. What was so special about August 22 & 23, 2014? August 22 was a Friday. It was hot. It was a "nothing special" kind of day. I had been inducted onto the local homeless shelter board on June 2 of this year. One of the Case Managers had sent an email asking if anyone had any furniture that they could donate to a couple of ladies who had gone through counseling and were ready to rebuild their lives. They were moving into a small apartment and they needed everything to set up a house. I had a kitchen table and 6 chairs, a hutch and a small cabinet that we had bought when my husband and I had gotten married and it was just taking up room in our garage. I emailed the case manager back and said that I had those pieces to donate. She said "Great!! You can deliver it at this address after 4:00 today." I was like, OoooooKaaaaaaaaaaay. There goes our date night!! I wasn't happy about it but when my husband got home from work, we loaded it all into the truck and headed to their apartment. We got there and I knocked on the door. I heard a voice say "Come in". We walked in and there were two ladies sitting in the floor. I looked around the room for their belongings and all they had in that apartment was one lamp. ONE LAMP!! That's it!! Nothing else!! We started bringing in their kitchen table and chairs. The kitchen was so small that only 3 chairs would fit but that was okay with them, they would have 3 chairs to use in the living room. We brought in the hutch and had to put it in the living room. The ladies were crying and thanking us and crying and thanking us. For what?? All we did was bring them a table that we had bought 18 years ago at Rooms To Go but they were over the moon happy. They had happy tears at our "generosity". When in reality, it was just us getting rid of things that we no longer had any use for. I asked that question. I just had to ask that question. The question that changed my life..."Do you have beds?". They said, "No". That answer cut like a knife. They were so thrilled to have a table and chairs and the hutch and the small cabinet that they didn't realize that all of the color had drained from my face. I got myself together and I don't know what made me say this but I just blurted out "I will be back tomorrow with 2 beds". WHY DID I JUST SAY THAT?? I DON'T HAVE 2 BEDS!!!! I went home and could not get those ladies off of my mind. I put my pajamas on and crawled into bed feeling like the biggest heel in the entire world. I was there in my king sized bed with my Pottery Barn bedding, super soft high thread count sheets and there were those women in that tiny apartment with NO BEDS. No Pottery Barn bedding. No sheets. I couldn't stop thinking about them and the promise that I had made to them. What am I going to do? I told them that I would bring them beds tomorrow!! Why did I say that??? So I began to pray. "Dear God, Please provide me with a couple of beds. It doesn't have to be tomorrow. Just some time in the next week or so. Just please provide me with 2 beds soon. They will understand if it isn't tomorrow." Well, the next morning was Saturday and my sister and I were supposed to meet at my Dad's house to clean out his closets. I walk up to the garage door and punch in the code and as the garage door opens, something catches my eye. Are you ready for this?? 2 beds are in my Dad's garage. What? Where did those come from? I picked up my cell phone and called my sister and asked where those beds had came from. She said that she had bought a new bedroom suit for herself and for her daughter. I just had to ask..."What are you going to do with them?" She said, "I don't know but we need to get rid of them before we put Daddy's house on the market." I said, "Can I have them?" and she said "Yes. That would be great" because she wasn't sure what she was going to do with them. So, my husband and I loaded them up on the truck, finished cleaning out Daddy's closet and drove back to that tiny apartment and knocked on the door. The ladies recognized our truck and ran outside crying. That was it!! I was a goner!! It hit me like a ton of bricks. This is my purpose in life!! Those ladies thought that I was a blessing when, in truth, they were the blessing to me!! Those ladies who had been homeless yesterday, had shown me what it is that I was put on this earth to do!! Of course, God had it all planned out already. I have to give Him all of the credit but He used those, no longer, homeless women to show me what I was supposed to do with my life. And so began what we now call Home Again Rehousing Program!! Every time I have clients to move out of the shelter into permanent housing, I try to get furnishings and household items for them. These people don't get shower gifts or housewarming parties like I did when I got started. A simple can opener, a set of dishes, a cookie sheet, a casserole dish, a pasta strainer, etc. means so much to them!! They are beginning their new lives. They have gone from hopeless, to homeless, to hope and now to housing.
Here comes the exciting part. I was having trouble coming up with beds for our clients. I had tapped out my friends and family. I went to our shelter director and told her that I was having trouble getting beds for these people. She said to let her think about what to do. The next day she called me and said that an organization was starting up in our community called "Heart for Monroe" and they wanted to help us. They had asked what they could do for us. She told them about my new project and they got excited. They have now partnered with The Original Mattress Company to get us beds at a discounted rate for every new client moving into permanent housing!! We have now set up numerous households with furniture, beds, bedding and kitchen supplies. We are making their barren apartments into homes.
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Mark Twain once said, "The two most important days of your life are the day you were born and the day you find out why" and that is what makes all the difference in your life. When you are a child, people often ask you what you want to be when you grow up. I love to hear the little kids say "A fireman. A nurse. A doctor. A veterinarian. A teacher. A policeman." but your profession doesn't mean a thing if you haven't found your purpose. Go and find yours.
If you would like to help go to: http://www.unionshelter.org/
Watch the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otM2tOrf7Rk
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