SNOW …AGAIN

       We awoke to nearly 4 inches of pristine snow. Something about a new snow gives me energy I don't generally have—I was dressed and sweeping the white blanket off the car well before 9:30. By 9:45 I was trekking across the tiny parking lot at the shelter in my black, rubber, tractor-soled farmer boots. Numerous residents were outside (snow energy for them too, no doubt). Our gay resident said, "I wondered who would make it here today, and then I saw your Honda!"

       "Yep, she doesn't mind the snow at all," I smiled, wondering again how life goes for a gay fellow at a shelter where there is such a mix of folks. Apparently it goes well for him—his sweetness and his smile are always present.

       Joey had a HUGE pot of soup on the stove and a "surprise" for me! There were 30 sack lunches in the fridge. I made up the other 15 in about 45 minutes, and then made about 45 sandwiches to go with the lunch soup. We needed 15 PBJ sacks made up for our street folks, so I did those before I left.

       Our morning was filled with noise, but the C&W music took a backseat to the ice machine and other interruptions. Joey and I had more than 3 hours together, so we squeezed in a lot more chatter than we are usually allotted. He was excited about the 100 he made on his last test, and he explained to me the details of his getting a GED in a VERY special class of four. "Two girls, two boys," he said. "It's perfect!" I'd love to meet this teacher who is taking these children to meet their dreams.

       Little Sweetie came back to the kitchen after lunch, to take out the trash. I don't expect to see "the dimpled grin" again, but I did ask him to come visit. He leaves next Friday. I gave him a rock. It's just a broken piece of flint with a little dime-sized fossil in the center, but you should have seen his eyes as I told him it is flint (the stuff that cavemen used to make spears and arrowheads)... and he wanted to know how on Earth did I learn so much?! It's a piece of flint, for crying out loud! Where are young people sheltered these days? (Oh, right… tv, cd, wii… sorry.)

       I told him that the rock was probably a million years old and that it had been in the ocean originally, but that now there is land there where people are living. I explained that the fossil might have been a small clam or scallop, but that after a million years its special mark was still here on earth. I asked him where would he be if he went east from here, and he named a coastal town. "And if you went east from there?"

       "I'd be in the ocean," he said.

       "And farther east?" I pressed.

       "I'd be 'over there' somewhere," he stretched.

       He doesn't know exactly what is "over there," but when I asked, he said he had heard of the Eiffel Tower, and his eyes nearly popped out when I told him the rock came from there. I segued into how he, too, can leave something special on Earth, just like the little fossil did—do good things—leave something special.

       Dimples hugged me twice and left clutching what is today the most precious stone in town. Oh! How I hope he comes back to show me how well he's doing in the real world.

       Joey's not "up" for Christmas this year. "Me neither," I admitted. We're stuck in some dull place with no plans and no anticipation. Guess we'll need to make those for ourselves.

       Joey was nearly 2 hours at the chicken sink today—scraping off skin and fat. None of my skin-yanking or fat-removing tricks could lure him from his slow-mo custom. It's a long, slow job, and you can't answer the phone or touch anything else when your hands are raw-chickenfied.

       Being at the chicken sink gave Joey a bird's eye view of the street behind the shelter. There was a fire truck there around noon. Joey was glued to the scene. "It's just the usual," he explained. Then he told me that the building there was a "day shelter" for street folks. They can only use the shelter between 7 a.m. and noon. Joey explained that it was not unusual for a client to fake a stroke of some sort around noon because he had no place else to go. Soon, an ambulance loaded a man and left for the hospital. We talked about those street folks; they cannot drink alcohol or smoke or use drugs if they are using a shelter, so many of them stay outside. Occasionally, desperation and basic survival kick in. I don't want to know how that feels.

       There was a lovely woman among the homeless residents at lunch today. She'd just come from church. Her darling teenage daughter was with her. How on God's green earth did such well-spoken (obviously unaccustomed to deprivation) dear ones come to be there?

        Okay—obviously there is joy and sorrow, victory and defeat in that place… but those are also available at my house and yours. That we have a house is such a gift. My personal heart is full, full, full.