Gratitude Changes Everything
Thursday night. Shelter. It's time for journaling or as the class now calls it, their weekly therapy session.
I walk into the room. Three words are on the dry erase board....
GRATITUDE CHANGES EVERYTHING
Here comes my class. My students. My people. Tonight it's three guys and three women. I don't have a topic for tonight. We're going to wing it. I wonder what's on their minds?
One of the women is moving out the next day. She found a place in a Single Room Occupancy building. Small room. A bed. A dresser. A table. A shared bathroom with someone she doesn't know....and she's ecstatic.
I'm a little saddened to hear this because I was hoping for something better for her and for all of them but there's these words up on the board....
GRATITUDE CHANGES EVERYTHING
The next half-hour is girl talk. The three of them are talking about how they are going to decorate this place to make it a home. Posters. Curtains. Candles. Air fresheners. A Microwave. A GEORGE FOREMAN GRILL!!
The guys are sitting there listening, smiling and nodding. My only comment is that the George Foreman Grill makes great Salmon. It really does!
I asked how she was going to get her things to her new home? "UBER!" More laughter and I called her an Uptown Girl.
The class is coming to an end. I point out the writing on the board. None of them wrote it. None of them know who did. It's a mystery but everyone agreed....
GRATITUDE CHANGES EVERYTHING
This is part of the ongoing Faces Of Homelessness series. Here's one from last Christmas about the same group of people and their gratitude.
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