Current Events

In my attempt to improve my updating, I may be overachieving by posting two days in a row, but perhaps this will give certain people something to do besides remind me that it's been a while since I posted.

A lot, actually, has already happened in April. I have continued my correspondence with one of the friars at the Mountain, and am planning a trip up there for the last week in April. I want to know more about what would be expected from me, and I would like to start to get to know the people I would be working with besides the friars. It's difficult for me to understand exactly what I would be doing, and no one has been able to give me a straight answer thus far, so hopefully this trip will be useful to everyone involved. I am planning to go away next weekend, as well, to Baltimore to see my brothers and run with Andy and Bridget in a 5K. Then, my mom and I will be going on vacation the first week in June.

It's overwhelming to think about all the things that need to happen in these last few months we have left in Philly. We are also planning another party for the kids, as well as a trip with them and their parents to Six Flags in New Jersey. There is Volunteer Appreciation Day at the end of April, and the annual Inn Block Party at the end of June. Oh yes, and in between those things we are planning to plant a garden and continue in our attempt to have each team member over to our house for dinner. Finally, there will be our closing retreat, which I can't talk or think about without becoming very upset. I don't know where the year went.

On Monday, like all first Mondays of the month, we cleaned the Inn. Well, I was on pickups, so I was not involved in the cleaning, but the Inn was cleaned. Since all day is spent cleaning and doing various other jobs, there isn't time to prepare a hot meal so we hand out bag lunches and usually whole desserts or something of that nature, if we have them. A local school makes hundreds of bagged lunches and sends them over. Often, the kids make up the bags themselves, so there is sometimes a cute little note in the bag, along with the sandwich, fruit, and dessert. The notes range from "Enjoy your lunch!" to "Happy (insert upcoming holiday here)!" to indecipherable drawings.

I can't describe to you how much support we receive from all over (and I know I probably have tried to describe it multiple times before, but humor me here). If it were not for these incredibly generous organizations, we would not be able to provide for our guests. Every role is so important here, from the benefactors that send $20 checks whenever they have the money, to people who drop off leftovers from parties, to people who collect toiletries from the scads of hotels they visit every year, to the meat-packing company that donates cases of meat every week, to the guys who come in Wednesday nights to run the dishwasher. The Inn is not just a single buidling, it is a network of people who all care about the well-being other people.

I digressed, as I tend to do, but we shall return to Monday. Michael and I were placed in the yard-him handing out tickets and me doing the line-up, although it was more like directing traffic, since it was being handed out the same way we do breakfasts. I was slurping coffee, since I had been so tired that I fell asleep on Katelyn's floor shortly after planning Mass music for that evening. Michael teased me later for standing like a zombie clutching my coffee mug and barely moving, which was probably pretty accurate. The crowd dispersed about a half hour into the meal, and I finished my coffee and began to more closely resemble a human being. That's when they walked into the yard. Well, he walked and, with some difficulty, supported her as she swayed and stumbled; she leaned on him as on a wall. Once inside, he sat her down with her back up against the fence. Karen went over to see what was wrong with her and determine what needed to be done. I can't exactly remember the color of her clothes, but I don't know that I will ever forget how she looked. She was wearing a low-neck top that barely covered below her ribcage. Her white stomach drooped over the waist of her jeans, and there was a dark line of hair below her belly button. Her clothes were barely on her body, so it was practically indecent to look at her. She had makeup on, and earrings, but in her state it made her look almost like a little girl playing dress-up. She had dark, shoulder-length hair. Her face was young and thin, but the rest of her reminded me of an overgrown garden; she looked like she had just stopped caring.

Karen had gone inside to make the 911 call, the guy she had been with disappeared, and the crowd that had gathered around her found other entertainment. She was having trouble staying up, so I knelt next to her to keep her upright and held her head so she could keep breathing easily. She came in and out of consciousness, sometimes responding to her name (someone told me it was Dawn) and asking who I was and passing out again before I could answer. Some guys from the Last Stop came over to try and be helpful and give advice, but sooner or later everyone left us. I had someone get her a blanket so she could be covered, and the guy she had been with resurfaced to give me a bag of her stuff. The firemen responded first, and one of them tried to explain to me how he knew she was a heroin addict. I nodded as though I was listening; the truth is, I don't want to be able to look at someone and know for sure what their drug of choice is. I would rather stay naive.

Dawn was taken to the hospital, and I haven't heard anymore about her since Monday. She came to long enough for the medics and police to get her name and age (27). I haven't really felt sad about her situation, just numb. I hope she's ok and I have been praying for her, but I have a feeling this wasn't her first trip to the ER and it won't be the last.