I remember

I was homeless and outside in the early evening. It was mid Autumn and there was a chill in the air. I was walking to a Church where I was welcomed before to their Sunday service. The same Church helped other homeless people including me with food and shelter on the coldest snowy frozen nights. My intention was to stay for the night outside their door. The day was windy and the sky was overcast with a blanket of clouds as far as the eye could see.

I wore blue jeans and a shirt, socks, underwear, shoes and a jacket. I had a backpack with a sleeping bag and some supplies for living outdoors. I lost the only hat I owned and in the sleeping bag my head and ears would have been cold all night.

Walking to the Church I passed a man who gave me a warm hat. His gift made all the difference. I was warm enough including my head and ears while I slept outside the Church. The generous gift made the difference between me fending off a cold and being warm enough to stay as healthy as I was capable of without the prescribed medication I didn’t have that helps my mental health minimizing my symptoms and enabling me to manage my responsibilities and keep an even keel.

I had been off my prescribed medication and homeless for the larger part of 4 years and did not accept that I needed to take prescribed medication every day for my mental health.

Though I made it through the night without disruption I had two more years of being homeless struggling before intervention got me on the path to recovery.