Six years ago I had a short breakdown and ended up sharing a small room in a board & care home with a homeless vet. We got along surprisingly well. We hated each other occasionally but the majority of the time we got along and had a lot of laughs.
There were almost 25 people there both men and women. I had been living on my own before I ended up there and unfortunately I had tended to isolate. I had been going to my job and seeing my sisters and ran errands but I isolated. The board & care changed that.
Now I had to see twenty people a day and eat with them and walk past them and talk to them. I had a lot of complaints while I was there but I also had some happy times. I felt accepted there, I felt liked. And it felt good. Some people didn’t like me, one old guy my age detested me and scowled at me every time I passed him in the hall or the courtyard. Most people were neutral about me.
I took two months off of work to recover from the breakdown and I spent my days drinking soda and sunning myself in a chair in the common area. It was downtown in a major city
and it had a huge homeless population. I got to know some of them and I was friendly with them. I remember one guy even called me cool inside the crowded 7-11 when he was in the middle of an argument with the cashier there.
I was in my fifties but I did all kinds of cool things and I even liked a bunch of people there. I miss all that. Like I said, I had a lot of complaints while I was there but now my life is so dull and boring compared to when I lived there. There were even several women I was really interested in while I was there. I haven’t seriously thought about getting somewhere with a woman since I left there. But there were a couple of women there I would have liked to fool around with. I miss that a lot too.
My life these last couple years has it’s good sides but the neighbor situation was a strain and took it’s toll on my happiness. Luckily that guy moved away and a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I miss the people at the board & care. I miss the excitement. I miss life there.
