Long enough?

Can someone tell me why January seems like the longest month of the year? I reasonably know that there are 6 other months with 31 days in them, but January seems to last foreverrrrrrrrr. Perhaps it is the cold, the gray, the cloudy, the letdown after the frantic pace of the holidays; but for whatever reason, it seems like it will never end.

Certainly that is true to our clients, many of whom come in 2-3 times during January, and often are completely tapped out by the 30th. Some of them come just to get out of the house; some come to see if they can get more blankets and warm clothing so that they can turn their heat down to save money. I think many come for the warmth: both the physical warmth of the building (and the coffee) and the warmth of human interaction. During this, the coldest time of the year, clients seem to chat with each other more, spend more time sharing resources and stories. The only other time we see this much interaction is during the middle of summer, when everyone feels relaxed and we spill out the doors to sit and chat on the grass.

It is when I see young mothers showing off their babies with pride, toddlers playing cars, men talking sports and cars, that I am so glad we rearranged our waiting area into a “living” area! Hope House community times are precious to us and part of our mission.

So back to the loooonnnggg month of January—I pride myself on my ability to treat people with warmth and love. It's why I work where I work! But sometimes towards the end of a long, hard month I find myself less than charitable in my interactions, less patient with those who are demanding and not as friendly as I like to be. I had one of these days recently and I did not like it—I told my volunteers that it was not a good day for me to be there.

Just when I thought I was going to have to go home upset over a wasted opportunity of a day, three things happened:

1. A homeless gentleman whom we have been working with forever, and who had fallen off the wagon a few months ago, came in. He did not want to talk to me, would not look at me, but just asked if he could have some food and socks. I replied that of course he could. Then I told him I miss him—not just once, but 12 times in the 5 minutes he was with me. He went out to get his food, and on his way out the door, he looked me in the eye and said “I miss you, too.”

2. A young woman came in who needed help with a bus ticket to Seattle for a seminar that would help her get into college. She has been homeless, recently housed by another agency, and all she needed was $9 more for the round trip ticket. We had no way to get her a check for that amount that day, but while I was talking to her, the volunteers had gathered up the money from among them, along with a packed lunch to eat on the way. She sat in the chair in my office and leaned forward, sobbing into her hands. She said she couldn’t believe we believed in her.

3. One of my long time clients, a young mother, came in to proudly show off her newest bundle of joy—the most beautiful little girl, who I was able to hold (those are the perks of this job!!).

So my day, and my month, ended better than I had anticipated; and I haven’t even mentioned several “Godshots” we had in the last week.

That’s another posting.