It’s been a while
And I need to use this to talk into the void. Because there is literally no one I know who I can talk to about this particular thing. I mean, there are people I can talk to who would be super supportive and hug me and tell me everything will be ok, but to my knowledge, no one I know can relate. I found out today, for sure, that my dad has experienced homelessness multiple times in the last... seven or so(?) years. However long it’s been since we last talked, as that’s about when his number stopped working. I had suspected it before today because I saw arrest/court records for him that listed his address as 123 Transient. I already *knew* it. But I was able to confirm today with an organization that serves the homesless population in his area that he has worked with them more than once. And I guess he’s currently got a VA social worker, so that’s good. So I passed along my phone number for them to give to him. And now I’ll be answering the phone rather than ignoring it when I see a number I don’t recognize. I totally cried multiple times at my desk today. It’s part sadness at the circumstance and part relief that he’s not dead. Because it’s totally selfish of me, but my biggest worry for a long time (to varying degrees, but even moreso upon seeing those arrest records) has been that I wouldn’t find out if/when he died. That no one would know to contact me. At least when he had a job, he tended to list me on forms as next of kin or an insurance beneficary. But I have so little knowledge of how the government deals with homeless populations, I don’t know what would happen when something happens to him. Soooo, yeah. That’s been a thing. And I still have so many feels about it, none of which I even know how to articulate just yet.
