Looking Back...

I would have never thought four years ago I would be where I am now.  I remember those cold homeless mornings so vividly.  I would crawl out of my tent to a frost covered world as I got a fire started.  Freezing cold, I would stamp my feet on the ground to warm them.  I would immediately crack open a beer as I ate my usual gruel breakfast of grits or instant oatmeal.  Lunch time would find me drunk as a warming sun would rise high in the sky.  I remember that warmth vividly.  A nap would follow in my tent and more drinking would earnestly start in the afternoon.  Nightfall would find me three sheets to the wind. 

I discovered homeless blogs then.  I would sneak over to my deceased grandmother's house every night to use the computer.  The house would be cold and I found a little space heater to warm my feet.  I discovered The Homeless Guy and hung on his every word.  I wanted to move to Nashville and live in the shelters there, but I drank so much I couldn't sober up enough to go.   All my money went to beer. 

One night I called my mother...

"Mom, I'm cold," I replied.

"Where are you?  You just disappeared!" she replied.

"I am over at Memaw's house.  I'm homeless."

She drove over to turn on the heat and help me make a bed to sleep in. 

"I don't care what your father says," she told me. "But I'm not letting you be homeless."

I remember writing on my blog how excited I was.  I was so cold and forlorn.  I thought my life was at an end.  Fate had other plans for me.  I had a home, and now the hard work was upon me to get sober and straighten out my life.  What a journey it has been!