Why I hate Fridays!

I hate Friday nights! Sounds odd doesn’t it? Let me explain. I love my job so much there are actually days when I am not ready to leave. It is not so much that I am drawn to the paperwork, emails and phone calls. It is that I am drawn to the mission and the cause. My days of frustration and exhaustion quickly evaporate when I walk downstairs, to grab my caffeine pick me up, and I engage with our clients. As I walk to the coffee maker, I pass addicts, felons and other women who call ACCESS home. I quickly return to my office invigorated and ready to advocate for the ladies. It wasn’t the coffee that energized me, it was them. It was their story, it was the look in their eyes, and it was the human face of poverty and injustice. Each day as I turn off my office light and log out for the day, I leave with hope that maybe tomorrow will be the day. Maybe tomorrow will be the day that affordable housing is not sparse, that jobs will be offered and we can close the doors and go out of business. I often wonder what our building would become when we can stop being a homeless shelter. Maybe it would become a spa or a retail business. Maybe it would become a no calorie bakery (a girl can dream…it won’t become a gym). Everyone person on staff would embrace the end of our need and enthusiastically search for new employment. There is always tomorrow, but not on Fridays.
If a woman is still at the shelter on Friday, she will be there on Monday. It is rare that anything changes for a client over the weekend. Agencies that offer assistance are closed, staff is smaller and hope is on hold for the weekend. Each night as I walk to my car, there are always women outside for a smoke break.

As I walk to my car, I am haunted by “have a good weekend Ms. Joy”…”See you Monday Ms. Joy!” Oh the injustice and unfairness of my weekend at home with family and friends. My weekend of freedom to go where I want…the injustice of not everyone being able to have “a good weekend”. The injustice of not everyone being able to have a home. That is why…I hate Fridays.