A few days ago I get a call from staff that "so-n-so" is in town and is on their way over for a visit. So-n-so was a primary client of mine back in 2000...wow!? She is "pictured" here back in 2005?2006? when she stopped by for a visit.
She came in, second child in tow, and said she'd come to AC to Christmas shop at the Outlets but "just had" to stop by the Cov to say hello...and even though I don't have an office at the Crisis Center anymore, she took the time to come over to our transitional living program site to see me and update me on how she was=married, she and husband own their own business, she looked great, and was in good spirits. She said of me,"You look the same! Still young!" which brightened my day like you can't believe!
Why do some kids reach back? Why are we a "touch stone" of sorts for some young people? I remember going up on the boardwalk with this young lady 11 years ago and getting ice cream (fro yo for me!) with her baby and talking for hours...I was her relationship counselor, her "reality check", and did some serious investment of time into her life (along w/ other staff). We must have done something right, even though she was a handful! We must have loved her enough, in spite of her flaws and dramas, to make her think last week,"I want to go see the people who helped me at Covenant House". THAT'S PAYDAY!
A day or two later I got a phone call from a kid I met back in 1997 when I first started. He was involved in my first fight experience at Covenant House (scary for the then 24 y/o Jen Williams, to say the least!) I said,"What are you doing with yourself?" "Nothing!" came the reply=no job, no anything on the horizon. He'd called out of the blue (haven't spoken to him in about 3 years) to see if I'd heard from a former girlfriend of his lately (I hadn't). Then he hung up.
But...he still thought to call...he decided,"I'm gonna call Ms. Jen at Covenant House to see if she heard from ___ because I know she keeps in touch with ___" (which I do!) And the most important part? I was still there...I still work there...I am still a safe "reach back" for those kids who left us long ago but still feel the need to reconnect for whatever reason.
That's one of the main reasons I stay at the Cov...I would hate for a past kid to come back for a visit, support, a question, and not know anyone. We choose to become their support, their family, for however brief an amount of time...and we love them and invest as much as we can in them...don't they deserve to have that waiting for them later on down the line?
"They say" no one retires from Covenant House...and I don't know anyone who has (!?) But as long as I am able, I aim to be the first one to do this (unless others come before me). It's not the money or the position...It's committing to loving our young people (even if they aren't so young anymore!) and being there for them...cheering them when they later on accomplish much (as I did w/ the young lady who visited) or even if they are still "stuck" where they were when they first came (as in the young man who called). What peace and joy there must be for them in a familiar face, a familiar voice...Praise God that I get to be a part of that!
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