Some Thoughts About The Week
I was at the bus stop a few days ago with other guys waiting to go into town. The one that came was already crowded so I waited for the next one. Since My injuries retired me from labor jobs I have plenty of time to get where I’m going.
That’s how it’s been since 2009. First you worry that you can’t do the work you’ve always done. Then you realize you have to go through the process of getting disability. You have to admit you’re washed up. It’s a rude awakening.
It’s a hard thing to admit you can’t do what you've always done. That’s when you realize you really don’t know that much. At least that’s how it happened with me.
It was a good thing that I made friends in the Native Community here in Seattle. When Gloria Johnson, an elder from Standing Rock was teaching a Lakota Language class at the Chief Seattle Club I signed up because it seemed like a good way to stay busy. People in the class liked me and I got adopted by the Lakota.
I lost everything in the recession but still managed to make good friends. They say you know who your friends really are when you hit hard times. It turned out I had a lot of them. The friends I’ve known a while couldn’t help me much. Everyone was having a hard time. Things were easier for me because of my network of friends in the Native Community.
There were other guys who lost everything like I did and who gave up. I kept moving and made it out of a really bad situation but it was sad to see them turn into crackheads and watch the streets eat them. Some of them got taken in by friends or family members and were off the streets. I knew people would give what support they could as long as I kept trying.
One of my brothers asked me if I wanted help and another one wanted to come get me. I thought it was better to stay where I was them go out of state. I read somewhere help from friends who are close by is better than from family who are far away. So I kept moving and eventually got to a better place.
I’ve got out of touch with a lot of my Native friends, but the ones I see on a regular basis still call me brother. I’m grateful for all their help.
I wake up early in the morning to stretch out a couple times a week. A few days ago I was at the dock and saw movement in the water. An otter was swimming by. Then three or four more were acting like they were playing tag with the first one. I guess there’s a lot of wildlife in the city. You just have to be up early to see things like a family of otters playing.
After my routine one day I was walking up the hill to the bus stop one of the raccoons in the neighborhood was walking across the street. It didn’t notice me because it was checking out a tree. I had stopped walking when I saw it was getting close to me. It didn’t notice me until it was four or five feet away.
I talked to the little guy so it didn’t get too scared. I know some wild animals can get used to living around people, but they’re not exactly pets. In Alaska people say, “We live here, they live there.” It stopped for a minute and walked passed me.
When I got to Starbucks a couple days ago a guy I see there sometimes started talking to me while I was getting a book out of my backpack. The day before two beautiful women sat down behind him. He asked them to move and said it bothered him to have someone sitting directly behind him.
I told him the lady he talked to was probably used to guys asking her out, buying her stuff, and trying to get her to have a kid and he told her to move away from him. He didn’t see the confused look on her face when he turned around to drink his coffee. Then I told him he was a fucking idiot who should leave me alone because I had nothing to say to him.
After a while he got up and moved to a different table. A Dios Amigo!!
There were clouds in Seattle today. It’s been a dry year for the area. There’s usually rain for more than half the year and this year it’s been mostly sunny. Maybe times are changing.
A week has passed since I turned 50. I still wake up between four and five in the morning and can’t get back to sleep. Then I try to make myself useful by staying busy. My routine hasn’t changed that much.
Maybe if you keep moving no matter what happens you eventually get out of whatever bad situation you find in and people who are hanging around acting like idiots just move on.
Written by Mark Blevins
Thank You For Reading
About Me:
I was a Construction Worker and Commercial Fisherman. An injury on a fishing boat in Alaska forced me into early retirement. Now I’m a Writer and Blogger. Having to start over forced me to realize people are more than their job title.
Contact me at 1mark.blevins1@gmail.com
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Jerry Fletcher
6 years ago #1