Saturday, May 26, 2007

Joey and the Road Home

In my mind this is a feel-good story. I've writtten about Joey before: there is a Part 1 and Part 2 and Part 3-- if you want to know more, head back to October 30th and you see another post on Joey.
.
But, really, this is all you need to know.
.
First his father died, just about falling on top of him.
.
Then, after ignoring his calls and pleas for the two weeks between when she left him at home and she was hospitalized, his mother died with the phone receiver still in her hand.
.
Then he was beset by full blown panic which resulted in five days in the psychiatric ward,
.
During which his arm was broken while he tried to break free of the four point restraints the substandard hospital staff had uneccessarily put him in.
.
Then he moaned and groaned and whinced and whined through months of a psychiatric residential program,
.
All the time perseverating about his mother and father,
.
From whom he had never been separated,
.
Not even during his work breaks, when he would call home,
.
And not even when he got home from work, when his mother would open the door for him at precisely the exact moment he walked up the steps.
.
It in now five years later. Joey eventually moved into a supervised apartment program where he has two roomates and a part time staff person who helps with meals and recreation.
.
It took a couple of years before he starting calling it home. In the meantime, the family house was sold, I-his-childhood-neighbor and his beloved aunt became "trustees" to assure he would not fall through the cracks, and Joey began a new life.
.
Last month he said to me, "I'm happy, kj". Before that he said, "I like it here". And before that he said, "I could have ended up in the street. Thank you for helping me".
.
This week Joey retired from his job of 42 years, as a Cleaner in a local hospital. They gave him a hundred dollar gift certificate at a local mall and threw a party for him.
.
Joey, now more often called "Joe", will be spending his days hanging out with his friend Paul, a mentally challenged man who told me when he first met me, "I don't know what I did right that God send Joey to be my friend".
.
Happy Trails, Joe. I'll try not to be too far away if you get in a jam.





14 comments:

  1. Life can be very tough for some.
    Thanks for caring, KJ, you are a wonderful person!

    ReplyDelete
  2. KJ, this post has touched my soul. One of my four children lives with autism, and has severe leaning difficulties, he's 14, but with a mental age of around 5. He is totally innocent, and people can often be so casually cruel where it comes to folk like Joey (or my Sam). It is heartwarming to know there are folk like you out there. x

    (I dedicated a post "Sweet Sam", but you'd need to scroll back a bit if you wanted to read it.)

    ReplyDelete
  3. - Heartwarming, KJ !!! and yes, I remember the previous post on Joey.
    - An Impatiens is waiting for you on my blog.
    - P.S. Great that you are keeping the Applepieproject alive, I am certain that one day we will be able to realize it. I first need a lot more time to recover and what we need then is ... a plan :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. pieterbie, thank you for such a high compliment. i'm really just trying to pay my dues....

    shrink (?), so you understand. i will certainly read about "sweet sam". i think people are casually cruel because they often don't know any better. in my view, the world needs to stop emphasizing "normal" and let people just be who they are!

    hidegarde, oooh, those beautiful impatiens. and i love your confidence about the apple pie project. we will manifest reality!!

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. What a life full of hardships! Good he got you! You are indeed a wonderful person.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is a beautiful and very touching true story.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi KJ, I've just read this and the two former posts about Joe(y). Touching story. I'm glad that Joe is happy now.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Well here we go again, in sync...I've spent most of the morning introducing, through words, my precious baby brother to someone who has never met him. Tried to explain the "magic" of Chance's world....the way his eyes can dance like a carousel in the mirror over the least little thing, the way he struggles so hard, and so brave, when he wants to, needs to, tell us something and he has no words from the King's English.....
    trying to explain "unconditional"....
    Bless you KJ and your precious Joey!

    ReplyDelete
  9. This is what need a little more of,a little more warmth, consideration and caring for each other. If we all did our share this world wouldn't be half bad.

    ReplyDelete
  10. such a nice post and yes, I remember joey from one of your past posts. glad things have worked out for him and that he has the support of friends like you.

    btw, nice new template! :D

    ReplyDelete
  11. It's a nice example of how we aren't all dealt the same hand in life. Nice to hear Joe is doing so well now.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Such a great post, KJ! You inspire me, my friend, as does Joe!

    ReplyDelete
  13. this brought a tear to my eye! How wonderful and sweet! I love this story!!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I love the new blog look, kj!

    ReplyDelete