homeless day 8-9

today i saw a gut wrenching sight.  an older woman, probably in her late 60's, crying at the motel counter while checking in. after she left for her room, the manager told me, poor lady, she just suffered foreclosure, they threw her out today. it took her trying 2 different credit cards before one would take her room fee. she ended up splitting her 2 night fare between two cards.

now i won't pretend to know what kind of situation caused her to get behind in her payments. she seemed to be on a fixed income, so it may not have been enough to keep up with inflation, or she could have been a reckless spender. either way, she's a newly homeless and vulnerable female.

i can usually read people pretty good, and i'm gathering she has never been through a rough time of this nature at least, and so she doesn't know the rules and tricks of survival living in her car. so sadly, she may very well not survive due to advanced age and emotional state. in fact in such cases, one has to wonder if she checked into a motel to overdose. she kept wondering which direction the bed faces, almost as if she's into some feng shui ritual for dying. so far i have heard no sirens to indicate any emergency services are coming.

how many others, including parents with small children, is this happening to due to the poor economy? i fear way too many. the sad thing is that sooner or later these kids will be adults. now, will they grow up to be criminals out of a sense of survival or will they grow up stronger for the adversity they suffered? is this the kind of life and society we want to pass along to those who will eventually have to take care of us older folks?

one thing i always did enjoy about this area is the lack of sirens. you only occasionally hear a fire dept, police or ambulance siren. i have though noticed over the past two years or so, that the number you hear has increased. when i first arrived in siskiyou county, i don't think i heard one siren in the first 6 months. now it's like 2-3 times a week. still, that's nothing compared to big cities where you're lucky if you don't hear one every hour. i have lived in big cities like los angeles and the bay area, and sirens there really get a workout.

today, i am back in the car, after a nice break in a motel where i can really keep my arm up to reduce the after surgery swelling. yesterday the nurse parsed the surgery report down to laymens terms and told me i should have no incision or scars. it seems that how they install k-wires is to just stab them in. they're about the same size as the tip of a ball point pen, and they have various kinds of tips that allow them to just be shoved in through the skin and through or around the bones. i'll find out on the 19th whether or not these have to be removed at some point.

next week will be a busy one for me. not only my birthday on wednesday, but i am supposed to drive to redding on the 17th for my dentures, 18th (my birthday) i see my blood pressure doc, and the 19th i see the surgeon. it'll be interesting spending my 56th birthday in my car.

well, i'm to see what friday the 13th will bring. i hope that old lady survives

caio

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