Don't You Dare

I haven’t written in awhile. I’m sorry for the delay. You see, I’m becoming forgetful. Yesterday (or was it day before? Well, sometime this week.) was my 58th birthday (or was it 57? 67?), and we all know that old people become forgetful. Yeah, that excuse probably won’t fly any further than I can throw a cannon, but it’s the best I can do until my feeble brain can come up with something better.
It rained yesterday here. We had over an inch of badly needed showers and thunderstorms. It won’t result in much growing outside, as fall has also arrived and things are pretty much shutting down in preparation for the winter months. But it certainly refreshed the earth and our spirits as well.
We will interview a family this evening who needs to place their daughter somewhere. I never know what to say or do at these interviews. We are to evaluate the situation and make some kind of decision (although not right away) on whether to recommend placement. I know that by the time they come here, there is a certain amount of desperation involved, and that they have tried most all other options, probably without success. I know they are looking at us as the saviors of their marriage/family/daughter, and we are very well aware that we are totally human and can only do what we know to do. We’re certainly not miracle-workers and cannot save everyone.
If this girl doesn’t work out, there is another one in the wings that wishes an interview. There always seems to be one more “out there”. We never seem to run out of girls who are in trouble and families that are in crisis.
There has to be a common denominator to all of this. What we see at MCCH is just a microcosm of what is out there on a massive scale. We can pontificate all day, but the long and short of it is that the common denominator is evil (Satan, the Devil, whatever you wish to call him/it).
Tell me I’m a religious nut if you like. Tell me that it can’t be that simple if you like. But until you’ve been a house dad to troubled teen-age girls and dealt with parents who apparently don’t have the sense God gave a goose, don’t you dare tell me I’m wrong.