Perspective

I spent the day yesterday volunteering at an event for homeless and needy families in Central Oregon. I had to spend time at a booth for my company, but I also helped out in a couple of the other areas as well.

The thing about my job is that every day I see the effects of recession and job loss, and I see the fear and hopelessness in people's eyes. In my line of work, I sometimes get to help these people. Yesterday there wasn't much I could do besides offer friendly words and do what I was able to help as a volunteer.

At one point I was speaking with an elderly Hispanic man, who told me he's nearing 70 and has worked as a construction laborer and welder for most of his life. He then said, "You know what job I'd like to have? I'd like to write you a song about how pretty you are!" I almost died. I turned bright red, and was laughing my ass off as he continued, "It would be a great song! I've written a few songs in my lifetime, I could sing one for you!" There was nothing I could do but giggle nervously. He and I were speaking in Spanish, so my non-Spanish speaking co-worker looked at me like I was a crazy person (or a tomato). He did sing one song for me, also.

As I was about to leave, a little girl of about 6 or 7 asked if I would play with her. She was bouncing a balloon around, so we hit it back and forth for awhile, and she thought I was super cool for stopping what I was doing to hang out with her. Her face haunted me all night, because as I came home to my warm, cozy bed I couldn't help but wonder if she and her family had a place to sleep that night, or if they were out on the street in the rain.

It's tough, my job. But it puts things into perspective. No matter how bad things get, no matter how many health scares I have, or how I feel when I find out the ex-boyfriend has a new girlfriend already after breaking up with me less than two months ago (yeah, that sucked), I know that I am currently safe. I have a home, I have family and friends who love me. It really could be so very much worse.