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Showing posts from December, 2018

Connections - #WhenIBecameFree

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The connections started about 9 years ago, in December of 2009. At the time Lend a Hand had only been in existence for just 6 weeks and we were already placing people in motels, families and individuals who carried the branding of being homeless. I say branding because that is what it felt like working with them in trying to get services that didn't exist and then also trying to get a message out in our community, that YES we have homeless in rural Wisconsin. I was greeted by dismay, accusations, and then also a great amount of empathy and compassion. I was not prepared for the lessons I was about to learn. My days became quickly filled with too much to do and not enough time to do it all in. Kyle was 11 and Justin was 15. We spent a lot of family time volunteering for Lend a Hand. Often they would go with me to met people at the motel. They would help carry the boxes of food we would get for those newly registered at the motel. They went with me to meet Kathy at the food pa

Moving forward - ramblings

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The memories came barreling in, like a wall of chatter, knocking the wind of me. They hit so hard that the tears started rolling before I even realized what was happening - 16 years worth of flashbacks. A domino effect that started with "sold" being placed on the for sale sign sitting in my front yard. It was just a few days ago when those memories flooded in and ever since they have been playing over and over in my head. Sure, there have been the ones I would like to forget and for the last decade have done my best to erase the trauma, but inter-mixed are the good ones, the ones a mother's heart will always cherish. Kyle, my youngest, was just 4-years-old when we moved to Wisconsin and Justin, my eldest, was 9 years old. In 2002 when we moved from the suburban Chicago area up to Juneau County, Wisconsin, it was my mother, my husband, my children and myself - the five of us.  My mother has since passed on, my once husband of 18 years is out of my life, and my boys a