Random Act of Gratitude #8: A Home When Needed (Part I)

Here's another one from the University Years Vault.

After I went off to attend university, my parents moved. Hence, when it came time to return "home" for the summer, home was not home any more. For three years they lived in this new town and in the final summer there, I was working several jobs most of which allowed for flexible scheduleing because that is what I could get.

One job was in a Diagnostic Imaging clinic. Basically I worked in files, culling out-of-date film, reorganising and restructuring the file stacks, and the like. I had a key so I could work during the day when time permitted, or I could go in after-hours and work into the night. This I often did because: (a) I had other jobs during the day; and (b) I could turn on music and sing along while working, something I chose not to do when the clinic was in full swing.

I guess I should be thankful for the job itself, offered to me by a woman who attended our church and who was a manager of the clinic. And I certainly AM thankful for it!

But the real purpose of this entry is where it went from there.

Partway through that final summer, my parents once again up and moved. The woman who had given me the job then opened her house, along with her entire family, to me so I could finish off the summer with the jobs I had, rather than moving and trying to find something for six weeks or whatever it was.

They set me up cozily, one kid giving up his room for my use, and pretty much made me an honourary member of their family for the time I was there. There was never any fuss made, just an attitude of "you need a place, we have a place, so come on in".

I tried to look them up some time ago, but the address and phone number were no longer assigned to anyone I recognized. So I'm tossing it out to you all so you know that I still look back with gratitude on that family.