The Adventure

Here is the story of Esther. This happened yesterday.

My mom and I went out to Panera for lunch. On the way back, just before we were about to turn onto my street, we passed a lady carrying two suitcases.

Mom: "Oh, that poor girl, carrying two suitcases."

Me, who hadn't even noticed: "Yeah."

We pulled in front of my house.

Mom: "I bet you would have stopped and offered her a ride."

Me: "Maybe...I dunno...Joe doesn't like me doing stuff like that because it's not safe..."

Mom: "I think we should go offer her a ride."

Me: "Okay."

Esther accepted the ride and told us her story. She was on her way to a clean/sober house where she had been kicked out three days before for having beer and wine in her room. She had only been in this house for 2-3 weeks before being kicked out, and she had spent the last three days at a friend's house but she had to leave because "there was too much drinking". She claimed she didn't drink in the last three days, though. She was on her way to see if her belongings were "on the street" like the clean/sober house owners had threatened.

We drove her up the hill. Her belongings were still in the house. She used my mom's cell phone to try to call the owners to see if they would let her move back in, but couldn't reach them. Another resident of the house gave her a number for someone who owns other clean/sober houses, and she was on the phone with this guy for about ten minutes when I interrupted and told her my mom had to leave, but we'd take her back to my house and take care of business from there.

At my house she asked for coffee and candy. She talked to the new clean/sober house guy, Mark, and asked if I would drive her up to Lakeland Hills to see if she liked the new place. So I took her back to her old place to pack up all her stuff, and then home to pick up Angela and we drove to Lakeland Hills.

She was interviewed and accepted! I was SO relieved because I knew there was no way Joe would let her stay at our house, and alcoholics can be so manipulative (I had already seen this with Esther). We unloaded her stuff and drove home thankful that it was dinnertime. Then, ironically, Angela and I went out for drinks at a martini bar!

The owner of the clean/sober house runs an organization that has three houses total. I jokingly asked if he wanted to lease a house four blocks from Kent Station (since usually the residents don't own cars or have driver's licenses) and he was like "yes". This could be a possibility for the house. We'd be helping these people, and they do pay rent so that would cover the mortgage and utilities.

The organization is "Alcoholics and Addicts Helping Alcoholics and Addicts". They have two men's houses and one women's house (I like this because the place Esther came from was mostly men, plus Esther). They provide food for the residents! They provide Bible studies for them. They use donations to provide clothes for residents that don't have them, or other necessities.

Anyway, that was the main event yesterday. Angela and I were blessed to see it unfold. We were both blown away by the quality of our lives - that we each have cars to drive, and we have drivers' licenses. We don't struggle with substance addiction. We have husbands to take care of us and are surrounded by Christian friends and family who support us.