Bad Luck or Bad Choices?

It seems like we've been struck with a string of bad luck.

Either that or we're making choices God doesn't approve of, but we've taken our personal inventories and really have come to the conclusion that our luck was pretty fricken rotten until today. Last Sunday Cracker and I had it out and he wound up going to jail. One of the downsides to being homeless - you can, and often will, find yourself in the jail at least once for trespassing somewhere. I have yet to go, but my poor husband got to spend Memorial Day Weekend in FCDC for it.

I made a poor decision while he was in there, and had no knowledge of why he was in jail or when he would be getting out. To put it bluntly, I had a bad mental breakdown compounded by separation anxiety and overdosed on 100 Vistaril. I'm okay now, my stomach isn't but that's another story, and I may have found a new viewing audience.

Okay, updates out of the way...I'd like to say hi to my new viewers, and thank you for taking a look. This post is inspired partly by a very kind hearted nurse over at Good Sam named Bill who said that as a medic, it's often hard to see what it's like on the other end of the stick with the homeless. I'll tell you what though, it's not just hard for people in the field of emergency medicine but I give them props because they deal more closely with the homeless than many other professions in the employment industry. Emergency rooms are often frequented by the homeless who have minimal access to constant healthcare, and often have greater health care needs due to debilitating health as a consequence of poor nutrition, hygiene and the works. I hope this blog brings some enlightenment to those who are curious as to what this life is really like.

After my umpteenth visit to the ER, I was told that I could be seen over at the Health Department so I managed to set up an appointment today over there to finally be seen for chronic care and a full health physical. Thank you, Jesus! I talked with a MSW (social worker) and my fees will be based on my income (or lack thereof). I had no clue I had access to this, which is why it deserves special recognition in this post.

Health First Bluegrass
650 Newtown Pike (Medical Clinic)
Lexington, KY 40508

HFB offers a full service medical clinic and what I believe is an emergency dental clinic. They work on a sliding fee scale based on your income and offer great service, from what I've seen and been told. Go right in, and ask how you go about being seen for an initial visit. You will need to bring government issued I.D. and proof of income. If you have no income, and are homeless, you can talk to the social worker about getting assistance to be seen.

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Now I'd like to take a moment to a show a bit of the Christian-based hypocrisy that kept me away from organized religion for some years. There's a place called the New Life Day Center on Martin Luther King Blvd in downtown. It's a great little program they've got going on and they offer storage lockers, pastries and coffee for breakfast, access to community resources, computers, a phone and several different faith-based classes and movies throughout the week. They have a doctor that comes in to see the homeless, and they have a big screen TV for the visitors to watch while they're there.

It really is a great program, I loved it up until the owner proved to be a spiteful liar.
He claims he paid for our tickets to Portland, OR (that trip as y'all know was a flop. We were supposed to stay with Cracker's sister, she was a no show, we got stranded and got the idea to set this up for those who don't know.) and refused to hear why we returned to Lexington.

The very next day, we found out that God's Net actually paid for our tickets.
Steve still claims he paid out of pocket, and we're now banned from any services at the day center.

"I'm sorry brother, I can't have you back here. Too much trouble." Those were his words to my husband. Now, people have been banned and given permission to come back. We've watched certain people cause numerous disturbances there in the last 3 months. We have not caused one disturbance. But we're banned.

It's alright, everything happens for a reason. But I have one question...why would you approach someone, allege to be their brother in Christ, allege to be a Christian yet pass such a hearty judgment upon another? Where is the love that God wants him to show all people? What have we done to personally offend him? Maybe one day I'll work up the courage to confront Steve face-to-face, but until that day comes I have to blindly forgive his misjudgment.

But just for future reference, don't refer to us as 'brother', 'sister' or whatever if you're going to kick us out the door. That's contradictory and rude in my fair opinion. I wouldn't ever go up to my brother and say "Hey bro, I can't have you in my house because I spent some money on you." You get what I'm saying?

For now, the American Drifters are doing fairly well.
Cracker got out on a steady ticket today through the labor pool, which is great, and I have another 5 hours to kill somehow. I finally got a chance to check out the last book in a series I've been reading, so hopefully I can go sit somewhere and read...and hopefully it won't rain today.

Until next time, folks!!

--Rabbit