. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P A R O L E . C A L L

Yesterday the community went quiet. The entire rehab was called to the big dining hall for an announcement. A long-time resident who’d been in the hospital died of a heart attack. He’d become a fixture in our community, funny and beloved. He had relapsed and re-entered the program, was just about to finish and go back out into the larger community. Though his mom and girlfriend showed up for the gathering, it seems this place was also his family. For close to two hours, fellow residents stood and sang, told their favorite memories, and gave prayers. One of his friends asked everyone to point to the sky. “That’s where Jensen is, ” he said, “in heaven.”  Jensen was never my student so I didn’t know him very well. I did appreciate the complete shift when we gathered, the quiet, and the open grief.

Today, when I came into work, I noticed someone had put Jensen’s name on the completion board. Students get their names on this board when they graduate and leave the program, move on to the greater community.