Michelle has been staying with me off and on for the last three months. We get along really well and I enjoy her company as an intermittent room-mate. When she is not here, she is living on the streets in Seattle. Chinatown is her preferred haunt. I picked her up last Thursday after a 10-day stay on the streets. At 45, life on the streets takes a bigger and faster toll than how it used to be. She was married to a preacher and sober for 8+ years. He died of a heart attack and she went back out.
She has been wanting to get signed up for help from WA State DSHS so she can go to a rehab facility. There is a 4-hour wait for the intake process when signing up on a drop-in basis. Yesterday afternoon she completed the short application and this morning she was up and ready to go by 7:45. I gave her a ride to the DSHS office now located at NE 8th & 156th.
Michelle is not your stereotypical homeless person. She actually owns a house in Seattle and has a pension from her husband's work experience. Her former brother-in-law is managing that for her while she is still out there running her hustle in the mix. She clearly wants to get and stay sober very much. Willingness to go to any length has been a problem for her due to the conundrum of trying to be in control of how her recovery is done and not being able to turn it over to her higher power.
I am grateful for Michelle's company, my willingness to at least go to a meeting every day and to be able to work with others.
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