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.

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But, really, this is all you need to know.

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First his father died, just about falling on top of him.

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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.

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Then he was beset by full blown panic which resulted in five days in the psychiatric ward,

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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.

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Then he moaned and groaned and whinced and whined through months of a psychiatric residential program,

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All the time perseverating about his mother and father,

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From whom he had never been separated,

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Not even during his work breaks, when he would call home,

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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".

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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.

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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".

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Happy Trails, Joe. I'll try not to be too far away if you get in a jam.