A Lesson Learned from a Homeless Person

A memory I live by

There is an experience I had when I was 18 years old which created such an impression on me not only about the lesson learned but also it influenced my perception of homeless persons.

I was 18 and it was rather late in the evening when I found myself riding the subway in NYC.  There were perhaps about 10 people riding in my car when a new person entered the car.  The description I am about to give is not meant to be judgmental but rather to lend meaning to the situation.  The person who entered had dirty hair, I wasn’t certain if they were dreadlocks or not.  He was wearing 3 pairs of pants at varying levels along his legs one at waist level the second at hip level and the third about mid-thigh.  He was also wearing several shirts.  In his hair he had straws sticking up as if they were antennas and in his hand he had a small bouquet of dead flowers.  He was obviously a person who was living on the streets or was there a camera behind all this?  Never thought of that!  When he entered the car he made no statement about being derelict and begging for money, what he did do was begin to dance around the car.  Most of the people in the car did the typical NY subway rider thing and ignored him hoping he would go away.  Across from me sat a pretty young lady who also averted her eyes but much to her chagrins the homeless person made a bead for her.  She tried as best she could to give evidence to the homeless person that she was not interested in communicating with him and kept her eyes directed to her lap with her head down.  The homeless person danced in front of her for a minute or so and then extended his hand holding the dead flowers to her.  The girl could not resist looking up at him and a smile crossed her face.  At this point the homeless person danced away, stopped in the middle of the car and stated for all to hear “It’s worth it to make a fool of yourself if it makes even just one person smile”.  All I could say to myself was “WOW”, these pearls of wisdom coming forth from the mouth of a homeless person, a person who most of society ostracizes and ignores. 

I have taken this lesson with me throughout my life and enjoy having fun, making people laugh and being a clown when the moment calls for some levity. 

I have also in recent years spent more time with homeless persons working in the Red Cross cold shelters in South Florida and have had the honor to meet and spend time with many homeless persons.  I have come to realize more than ever that many of them are intelligent and eloquent people who for one reason or another have chosen to live on the streets.  I have also found in the recent years that the demographics of the homeless person has changed, caused by our current economy. 

I’ll close by saying there is more to a homeless person than their outward appearance and people rather than ignoring, judging and ostracizing the homeless person should take more time to understand the homeless person. They are people too and if you are open to learning there is always something to be learned.  Remember Christmas is a time for sharing there are many ways you can help.  Maybe you have left over food from a Christmas party or Christmas dinner.  Rather than throwing it away give it to a homeless person who is only looking for some food to eat.  If you have blankets you don’t need any more give them to a homeless person to fend off the cold.  I’m sure you can come up with some ideas. 

Have a very Happy Healthy Holiday season.

A Professional Move Manager

When talking to people about my job I am often asked “What is a professional move manager?”.

To answer that question I first explain the evolution of a move manager.  Originally we were called Senior Move Managers.  Our function evolved from a need to have professionals, who could assist seniors in their transition from their homes to independent or assisted living facilities, to a need for move coordinators to assist not only seniors but every day individuals who don’t have time to pack themselves up for a move whether for business or for a change in residence. 

So what is it we do?  Basically we are move coordinators and packers, not movers.  This means that we coordinate all the activities related to a move:

Change of Address notifications

Cable TV/Telephone move

Downsizing if moving to a smaller residence

Coordination of determining items for possible auction or sale as well as donation of items which are not sellable

Packing up items which will be moved

Mover coordination

Trash removal

House cleaning

 

We can also help in clearing out and/or organizing garages.

For those moving locally we will:

Do floor plans for new residence to determine which furniture can be accommodated

Unpack all packed items

Set up the new residence making sure phone/cable TV and computers are all working

Hang art work

While this may seem simple there is a lot more to being a move manager than meets the eye.  Depending on the size of the job we may take days to work with our clients going through all their belongings, with them one on one, whether furniture or clothing to determine what can be sold, auctioned donated or simply disposed of.  In many cases we are working with clients who have collected years of memorabilia which cannot be accommodated in their new residence. 

So what does it take to be a move manager?  We often laugh about this as we feel that we must be proficient in many different functions; Psychologists, Electronics, Interior design, Packing and Patience.  The jobs can be both physically and mentally challenging as we find ourselves dealing with many clients who are either ill or suffering from varying levels of dementia.  We try our utmost to treat our clients like family which softens the trauma of the move.

One of the rewards of our job is that we often get to meet some very interesting people.

To find out more about our services visit our website at www.atimetomove.com.

I’m back!

To all of you who have at one time read or followed my blog I apologize for leaving you hanging.  For those of you who are new to my blog I welcome you.  No matter who you are I hope that you will enjoy my blog whether it is entertaining or informational.  For those of you who know me, you know that my life is an open book.  I am not afraid to talk about my emotions or my experiences and I believe that if you enjoy my stories ,learn from my experiences, are stimulated to create some of the experiences that I have achieved then my purpose has been served.  There is no specific purpose behind this blog other than to share.  The blog may consist of life experiences, lessons learned, poems written or maybe even a spiritual thought.  If you know me you also know that I am very passionate about Sea Turtles so you know that many of my articles will be about Sea Turtle experiences.  Note that any views expressed are my personal views and disagreement is a natural thing, your rebuttals or comments are welcome abusive comments will not be tolerated and will be deleted.  Now sit back in your favorite chair.  Grab your favorite beverage; mine would be a nice glass of red wine, usually a nice Zin or Pinot Noir. Enjoy the ride!