Drained

I have once again learned that if I think my life is in a bad spot there is always someone worse off then me. Maybe that is the wrong statement to make after my weekend, but it is the cold truth. As I sit here completely emotionally and physically drained I can't help but continue to think about the poor woman that I helped on Saturday. My new store manager had asked me if I wanted to help with a program called 'Rebuilding Together' I said sure as I have always wanted to help with Habitat for Humanity, but I had just never found the time. As the day approached (Saturday that is)I suddenly found myself wondering what the heck I was getting into. So on Saturday Morning around 7:30am I headed to a part of St. Louis that I had never been to and that no one ever talks about. I had been sent an email that gave me the address and said at the bottom 'Do not leave anything valuable in your car.' Well normally when I am headed somewhere that I have never been I always take Kirby with me. He and I have been MANY places together and I have never felt unsafe with him by my side. However, I was pretty sure that I was headed to a pretty rough part of town and was afraid that if they really wanted in my car they would shoot Kirby without a second thought. I told Kirby as I left that morning that he was far more important to me then my purse or my car. So 15 minutes after leaving my house, I arrived on East John Street. I parked on the street along with all the other volunteers and began to bury my purse under my seat and cover it with some coats and Starbucks Aprons that I had in the car. I kept thinking to myself, boy that doesn't look obvious! As I stepped out of the car and onto the street I notice all the interesting characters milling around, none of them looked liked volunteers and turns out none of them were. I quickly walked down the street to the house that I was going to be helping with and found my store manager and others that I knew. Earlier in the week my store manager had told me that he was going to wear his gun (he has a concealed weapons permit) and that he would for sure protect me. Some how that didn't make me feel much better. We had a brief meeting about what we were actually going to be doing, signed some waivers and then the games began. John, my store manager turned and headed up the stairs to the front door, I quickly followed him and said a quick prayer before I stepped through the door. There in the middle of this room stood a little old black woman, Miss Bernice. I smiled at her and said Hi. She smiled back and in a soft voice said Hi back. John instructed me that the next two rooms needed to be painted and then led me through the house to the kitchen. In this room the far wall had so much water damage it was incredible and unexplainable. She had no flooring and the walls were brown. I looked at John in disbelief. He then led me to the bathroom, as he and I entered the floor started to sink, he and I both stepped to opposite sides and decided it was best to get out of this room.
We divided into groups, I started helping the girls with the painting. We had to move some furniture and it is unexplainable the things we found. I then went onto help with other things. About an hour after we started, John came in and got one of the girls and asked her to come outside. Turns out at 9:30 in the morning in broad daylight her car had been broken into and her purse stolen. When she returned a few minutes later, I decided to go get my purse and bring it into the house with me. I quickly left the house and headed to the car, praying my purse was still there. It was and I quickly grabbed it and headed back to the house. Miss Bernice appeared a couple times throughout the day to see the progress, each time so appreciative of what we had done.
Throughout the day I noticed little kids playing outside in the street and laughter coming from some of the other houses. It was amazing to me. That afternoon the ice cream truck rolled through, I couldn't help but laugh when John turned to me and said I am sure Ice Cream is not the only thing they sell.
At the end of the day after we were all done, I went back into the house to make sure we had cleaned everything up, and caught Miss Bernice in complete AWE of what we had done. She turned my direction and I said, "what do you think?" She smiled and said, "I think it is the best thing to happen to me in a long time and thank you!" I told her she was very welcome, it brought tears to my eyes. We had painted two rooms, laid plastic tiles in the kitchen to cover the plywood floor, replaced the bathroom floor and put a dead bolt on her back door. I wanted to give her a hug, but she was to busy admiring the work we had done.
As I left the neighbor I thought to myself that poor woman has to live in that house. There are no words to describe that house. Even after we returned to our side of town I kept thinking of that 77 year old woman in that house all alone in that part of town. Even today, it still haunts me a little.
Thanks for letting me vent, I promise none of my other posts will be depressing! This week shouldn't be too exciting. Emma is entered on Sunday at the doggy show, but that is about it.

Sweet Dreams!