Creating Bonds and Support

A few days ago, I worked on gutting a house we know as Milton Mary's house. I've been wanting to write this post for a while but I couldn't quite find the words. I am the kind of person that loves nothing more than using the power tools and doing manual labor. But that day, it wasn't as much about that for me as it was to reach my goals and watching everyone in this group grow and change into the people that I have seen in the past few days. It dawned on me how something as simple as taking down base boards of a wall or ripping down a ceiling can form a strong bond with the people which you are working with. These bonds are something special and beautiful that don't come along too often. I am lucky to have experienced this multiple times and really understand how one person and their actions and connection to you can have such an effect on one person's life.

Today, I went back to the Milton Mary house and something that I came across was very symbolic and meaningful to me. There was a door upstairs that only one hinge attached to what was left of the door frame, but it was surrounded by pieces of wood and broken pieces of the walls that we had demolished and gutted in the previous days, so it was supported and could stand. I hadn't realized the reason the door was able to stand at first, and began cleaning up the wood and debris that was surrounding the door. Soon after the debris was cleaned up and in the dumpster, I realized that the door could not stand on its own. I believe that this door symbolizes our group perfectly. Like that door, we all have our own imperfections and obstacles that we have to face, but we are able to move through these obstacles because like that door, we each have forty eight other people who are full of love and compassion that we are able to be supported. I dare say that these people that I have only spent the past ten short months with are like family to me. I love every one of them. Without them, without this program, I don't know where I would be in my life. Maybe I would be like that door with only one hinge, just trying to hold on and stay standing. I am fortunate enough to say that is not my case and that. Have so many people that would be there to support me through my obstacles and imperfections, as all of us would do for anybody in our "family." I couldn't be any more thankful and lucky to have met every single person in this group, and I will certainly never forget this experience.

Danielle Crouse