A Change Is Gonna Come

Guitar shop in the process of moving to new location, with reflection - SE Division St

Happy Saturday, friends.  I’m checking in with my “bio” entry for the week—an entry which has undergone several significant revisions since I first wrote it on Friday morning!

This week seemed to be ending in a welter of negative emotion—I'd already been feeling some significant discouragement, & then I got back today in the late afternoon to find a letter from one of the management companies that handles subsidized housing units here.

The letter informed me that I am qualified for a particular subsidized housing unit & that I was being put officially on the waiting list—so far so good.  But the letter concluded by stating that there would probably be an opening by 2016.

OK, I was in shock.  When I moved to Portland, my friends Sue & Jay generously opened their home to me.  I have a large room of my own & am treated like "one of the family."  The rent I pay them is more than fair, especially given what they could get for this room on the open housing market—believe me, I know that well, as I've been examining that market quite closely.   Still, when we'd originally discussed the arrangement, we'd spoken about my being here for a matter of months.  Now I realize the 2016 date is intended as a more-or-less worse case scenario, but still, even taking half that & we're talking between two to three years.  

So I briefly went into disaster management mode.  It seemed unlikely that I could generate enough income in a relatively short space of time to be able to afford a more permanent situation (& again, this would be a roommate situation, essentially the same as what I have here.)  Although I've been taking some positive steps toward getting a guitar teaching practice started, I realize this is going to take time.

So at this point I was really second guessing the move to Portland.  I questioned the wisdom of moving to a place where subsidized housing was my only option, & wondered if I'd painted myself into a corner.  I began considering my options, & was actually entertaining some fairly radical ideas.

Two things happened: first, I found a new site associated with the Portland Housing Authority that has quite a few more listings than the ones I'd used previously.  At the very least, I hope this will lead to getting my name on a few more waiting lists.  But more importantly, Sue & Jay & I had an open & upbeat discussion about my situation (over a very tasty dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant, I might add!) & we all came away with the feeling that this agreement is working well for everyone, & if it's going to take longer than we all expected, well, so be it.

I feel the best tonight I've felt in a while; I can concentrate on what I need to do, what is in front of me, while resting assured that in the normal course of events I will have a place to call home while I wait for the eventual "place of my own."  This is a good feeling.  It's been a long time coming, but I believe a change is going to come.

Speaking of which: hope you enjoy John Boutté’s take of the great Sam Cooke song “A Change is Gonna Come.”  Is there a better vocalist on the scene right now than Boutté?  Wow!  There have been great versions of this by Otis Redding, Tina Turner, Al Green & many others, but in my opinion Boutté’s version is just sublime.