Never Say Never
By Kandance K. Griffin (Human and Social Services major)
Growing up, I would always hear the phrase “Never Say Never.” I would see homeless people with their “Homeless, Need Help” signs, and I would say to myself “That will never be me.” I’ve never been the type of person to make fun of other people’s pain. In fact, I’ve always been the type of person to want to help everyone. Being able to help everyone else has always been rewarding for me, but what happens when you can’t even help yourself?
I was fifteen going on sixteen, and I could tell something just wasn’t right. My mom had become very sick, and she had to be out of work for a little while. She was sick for about two months, which was very unusual for her because she rarely ever got sick, let alone for this extensive amount of time. Since she had been out of work for two months, our bills started to pile up. My sister and I didn’t have jobs at the time, so we were not able to help our mother pay the past due bills. After a while, trying to keep up with all the notices became too overwhelming, and we eventually got evicted. We had nowhere to go, so we had to live in our car for a few months. It wasn’t long before the car engine blew on us, so not only were we homeless, but we no longer had transportation either. It couldn’t get any worse than this.
I became embarrassed about my situation. I could no longer take a long, hot shower in the comfort of my own home. I had to go into the Walmart to wash up with baby wipes and change into my clean clothes so that I could appear normal to the rest of the world. Thank God I was still in high school and that my guidance counselor found out that I was homeless. The school began to raise money for my family so that I could get back on my feet. I felt so blessed when we moved into our new apartment.
Seven years had passed, and everything was still going great. Everyone in the house had jobs, and we all pitched in to help with the bills. Then suddenly, it was like deja vu. My mom was having trouble keeping a job. She had become unmotivated working dead-end jobs she knew weren’t going to take her anywhere. My sister ended up losing her job at Farm Fresh because they decided to tear most of them down. They gave her a nice severance pay, but that didn’t last long. I was the only one with a job for a while, and I did not make nearly enough to keep our apartment. We became homeless once again. This time we didn’t have a car to sleep in. We slept on the ground, bus station benches, and at churches. Thankfully, we didn’t have to do that for too long because we ended up getting accepted into a women’s shelter. It took us a whole year to get back on our feet, but we did it!
Being homeless twice has given me a brand-new outlook on life. I never thought I would ever be homeless, but my life experiences have made me stronger and wiser. My “Never” became my reality, and in a strange way, I’m thankful for that because it made me the woman I am today. I am a woman that never says never.
