"Hitting The Pavement:
A Journalist's Two-Year Memoir of Homelessness"
By
Faye Hollins-Moore
© 2016 All Rights Reserved
(www.fayehollinsmoore.com)
The issue of homelessness is a sensitive one for all Americans on many levels. Whether they are (as always stated) "one paycheck away from it" or currently homeless, it strikes a nerve for just about everyone. So does the equally timely topic of rampant opioid addiction. This story touches on both. And, once you've read "Hitting The Pavement", you will know what is on the other side of that last paycheck.
My journey began in the span of five seconds: this was the time it took to, literally, hit the pavement. When I fell, I broke and dislocated my shoulder. Prior to my injury, I was a well-paid accountant. And enjoyed the lifestyle of one for almost twenty years. Because I could no longer practice my profession, I was forced to retire four years early. But my avocation of thirty years was as a freelance writer. Having written everything from award-winning construction news reporting for McGraw-Hill Publishing to a weekly column for the San Diego North County Times Newspaper. Which brought me to a choice: "Do I live the life of a partially handicapped or live it and write about it, too". I chose to write. But the deal breaker was the prescription opioid pain medications offered to me at the time of my injury. I refused them (telling the doctors that the pain will one day go away: the addiction never will).
Which brings me to the main reason for my story. It took about five months for my normal life to wind down to the point where I needed shelter and assistance for basic needs. And, when it did (and I entered my first shelter), I began to see what my life would have been like had I succumbed to these powerful drugs. And, for the next two years, I stayed in six shelters for as much as three to six months in each one. Because I found sobriety fairly easy to maintain, I was never at risk of being "exited" (where a resident is given about one half hour to take their belongings and leave). But I watched others (many others) who were.
I also wrote my story for Americans to know that this could happen to them (just like for me) in the span of five seconds. Or with the ending of a career or the ending of good health, they could be rendered homeless. And, as I say in my story, instead of looking for a convenient place to park they will be looking for a safe place to sleep.