W.W.S.D.

What Will Suzi Describe? This evening the kids and I encouraged the Swansmith to tag along as we visited the Loaves and Fishes program at River of Life Lutheran in north Minneapolis. Seeing that I’m clairvoyant, I predict that she will write about (or at least mention) our evening outing. She will say that it was not as scary as she thought it would be. She will mention that we had beef stroganoff. And carrots. And bread, white or wheat. And cupcakes for dessert.

She will tell us that we sat at a table with Carl, the 70-something gentleman with the one bedroom apartment that now has two formerly homeless guys living under his roof. Guy number two, Les, also sat with us. His drug of choice is the bottle.

One thing I picked up on tonight was the camaraderie of those on the streets. Although I would guess that most of those who show up have places to live, a fair amount do not. It was a little like a high school reunion for some of those who sat close to us. In seeing familiar faces, they had some checking up to do.

Today the weather was quite mild for middle November, 50ish without the help of Mr. Sun. Or I should rather say despite the day-long fog and cloud cover. So it wasn’t too tough saying good-byes to some who were on their way back to their chosen outdoor hiding spots. Steve and I prayed with one guy who had several months ago attended a recovery group led by Steve. He just got back out of jail having served all his time and wanted Steve to know why he hadn’t been back at the group meeting. He came to the free meal with a brother and cousin and we were thankful that they could look out for each other. Although I wonder what kind of influences they will be on him as he tries again to wean himself from the bottle.

Well, enough said for this week. I will now anxiously await the wisdom and insight from the Swansmith. She will fill in the details and flush out the big picture and generally with precision and succinctness tell us what really transpired tonight. But we must wait. We must cultivate patience as we await the morning and read what Suzi will write. And she will write with gladness in her heart, for I have blogged, and she has an insight into my staid Scandinavian mind. Now if only I would clean the garage!