How many of us have a loved one who is or could be homeless?

[hunter]

8. At my worst I am unemployable and impossible to live with.

The world went sideways for me in late adolescence.

I've been homeless but that was a long time ago. I was kicked out of college twice but I eventually managed to graduate.

One of my brothers is currently unemployable and impossible to live with. He's living out in the desert somewhere.

One of our grandmothers was crazy but she managed to keep herself employed long enough to retire with a pension, which is the only reason she didn't end upon the streets as a bag lady cussing at people passing by. She eventually had to be removed from the home she owned because she was a danger to herself and others. She fought off the police and paramedics for hours, and was still cussing up a storm strapped to a gurney and trying to bite people as they wheeled her to the ambulance.

No nursing or assisted living home would keep her once they got to know her, so she'd end up at my parents house, where she could be just as horrible. She could also be sweet and witty, even grandmotherly, but that was rare.

When I was growing up my family's way of coping with mental illness was to pretend it didn't exist. That wasn't unusual for the time. Before modern antidepressants and antipsychotics were developed I really didn't have any real insights about my own troubles or anyone else's. All the talking in the world wasn't going to change anything.