Looking back on several Facebook updates from July 31 through August 30, 2026.

When you’re trying to get your life back into some kind of order, progress doesn’t always come in big dramatic moments.

Sometimes it comes in a pair of glasses.

Sometimes it’s having a plan for taking care of your teeth.

And sometimes it’s simply having a desk and chair.

Seeing things clearly

On July 31, I wrote:

Another thing happened to me today … I got my first pair of bifocals … For the first time in a long time I can clearly see faces … and a cell phone screen … This is another thing I should have dealt with a long time ago 👀 … more baby steps … Next up new teeth 😁

For somebody else that might sound pretty ordinary. But when you’ve been trying to get through every day with so much uncertainty, the ordinary things have a way of becoming big things.

Being able to see people’s faces clearly again was one of those moments.

One more plan

By August 4, I had more good news:

I now have a teeth plan and a goal of having new teeth in less than 3 months … Starting this month with 9 extractions and 2 root canals … Finishing with a top and bottom partial dentures 😁

It was a plan, not a finished treatment. But after spending so much energy just trying to get through one day at a time, having something concrete to work toward felt pretty good.

Another baby step.

A room of my own

On August 19, I announced that my homelessness was ending. I would be renting a room in a Chico house beginning in September.

That didn’t mean all my problems had been solved. Employment, housing costs, benefits, and the uncertainty of what might happen next were still very much on my mind.

But I’d finally have a private place to come back to … a place where I could rest, think, and start putting a few things together.

A desk and a chair

By August 30, I was thanking people who had helped with some very basic furniture:

Thank you to Miloh and the Tech Toss crew for helping me to get a desk and chair! I can’t wait for the next yard sale … there was so much stuff I wanted 😁 they’re a real asset to this town.

The desk and chair I photographed and shared on August 30, 2026.

It’s funny how much a desk and a chair can mean.

For me, they meant a place to work on things. To write. To repair something. To plan the next project. To be useful.

For a long time, almost everything I needed to live had to fit into what I could carry. Now I could begin to think about keeping a few things in one place.

A home isn’t just a roof over your head. It’s also the small freedoms that come with having a place to live … somewhere to put your things, somewhere to make plans, and somewhere to return at the end of the day.

None of these little victories fixed the larger problems I had witnessed while unhoused. I hadn’t forgotten the people who were still trying to find their way out.

But I was grateful for each step forward … and especially for the people in my community who helped me take it.

Building. Fixing. Serving.

A desk and a chair are a pretty good place to start. 😁

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Related: My homelessness is ending.

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My homelessness journey … chapter 13 of 17

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