Places Where I've Lived: Burnaby Street 3

I was burnt out by the time I got to this apartment but seemed unaware of it.  Or rather I was too aware of it and claimed, or bragged, that I was in a place beyond burnout.  I was still busy with the usual ministry and work but things were becoming familiar, commonplace, banal.  Even comfortable.  I was getting sluggish though I continued with the long walks.  I was seeing Satanists in every shadow, underneath every tree, at every bus stop.  I was traumatized and didn't know it.

I continued working in the Downtown Eastside, chasing cockroaches, cleaning up shit, running errands for often pathologically ungrateful losers.  I remained present in the clubs and coffee shops downtown.  I was developing solid friendships in many cases and some were seeking me out as a counselor.  One young man, who seemed a little too interested in me but still respectful of boundaries was psychic and told me a number of very interesting things about myself, among other things that I would one day be travelling internationally.  I also continued at St. James, where one of the associated priests enlisted me to be his spiritual director.  I knew he greatly needed to lighten up and enjoy the absurd, he did not seem prepared to do this, and one day I told him to stop reading Meister Erkhardt and maybe pick up a copy of the National Enquirer instead

My friend D moved back to Vancouver during the late summer.  He joined AA and I let him move in with me.  Our friendship flourished.  Given that we were two adult men sharing the same room in a bachelor apartment we got on amazingly well and were very respectful of each other's space.  It was one of those rare instances when the balance between being together and being apart maintained itself beautifully and without our help.  We talked about things every night before going to sleep.  We talked easily, well, beautifully, eloquently and with outrageous wit and humour.  We were two very bright and very curious young men in our early thirties with an incredible thirst for knowledge and understanding.  And we laughed, we made each other laugh almost like none other.

D saw me as part of his healing and recovery.  I felt honoured.  I also knew that I would soon be moving again.  Little did either one of us know that D was to be the one who held the key.