Today was *fairly* uneventful. (let's be real honest, the Mish is NEVER uneventful). There was not a whole lot of chaos going on today, though, and so I was able to check in with a few of my guys. This evening, I escorted the group to an AA meeting, and four of our community members shared some of their personal stories and struggles with addiction. They were very moving stories, especially the last one, which reflected on the painful ways in which her children were born. Because she was an active addict during the pregnancy, her son was born addicted to methadone (a synthetic opiate originally created by the Nazi party to control minds), and had to 'detox' in the hospital for 21 days. She described the pain and agony of watching her baby writhe and wriggle in pain, unable to feel peace or comfort during the first days of his tiny and fragile life. It was an incredibly moving story.
The highlight of my afternoon was singing for my friend, Damon - (who happens to be the same Damon that many folks have heard tell of before) - I sang him 'the perfect country western song,' "You Never Even Called Me By My Name," by David Allan Coe, in reference to it being the perfect song for karaoke. We both laughed hysterically as I donned my best 'country western' accent.
**amendment: After I had posted this blog, I went downstairs to make sure everything was shut down and everyone had returned from their passes. One of our female residents was standing outside the Mission with a young man who looked to be somewhere between 15 and 17 years old. It turns out that the young man was her son who had run away from a TSS program in Framingham (which is close to an hour away from the city). The other members of the staff team and myself tried to talk her son into going to a program for youth, but he turned down the invitation. After a while, he went on his way, stating he had a safe place to go for the night, but constantly suspicious that we were going to call the police and have him arrested. His mother seemed to handle it ok, she definitely was upset; it was heart-breaking to see the vicious cycle of sin that not only affects our female resident, but also her son.
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