PLEASE MEET ROBYN :
Robyn’s tent sat high on a concrete shelf under a bridge. Near a bulkhead adorned with lichen and green slime. And graffiti tags. It’s a dank place with wide views of Seattle. Expanding across your vision, the city hums. There’s energy, effervescence and affluence. But here the steel beams rumble overhead, dripping dirty water. Streaming off the tents into the mud. It’s a lonely place with strangers and shadows. Darkness’ territory. Robyn never got over being scared out here at night.
Robyn asked with weak anticipation “Any good news?” As I answered, her big eyes lit up. A bed and shelter waited a few blocks away. She clinched her fists and jumped like a school girl. “YES! When can we leave? ” “Right now” I said. “Did you bring my guitar?” she asked. We had been storing it for her. She was packed in 5 minutes. Robyn hates being homeless.
I met Robyn in the Jungle during the summer of 2018. Fast forward a year when Rex profiled her here. She had no plan. No vision for tomorrow. She spoke of her dearly deceased grandmother, and her love for playing guitar. She wanted to get off the streets. But that was last summer. What took so long?
Robyn came to Seattle in 2011. Her grandma’s passing devastated her. She sought a new start after difficult circumstances. The subsequent death of her boyfriend in 2013 hit her hard, unraveling her life incrementally, eventually leading to homelessness. “I lived in the Jungle because I was alone and scared. People looked after me there. My family doesn’t know I’m out here. My grandma would roll over in her grave. Now I’ve seen things I wish I hadn’t seen. I know things I wish I didn’t.”
Robyn’s eyes speak volumes. Sometimes pools of sadness. Sometimes the sun peeks through the clouds. When she’s happy they shine like a National guitar. But they mist up when she speaks of her grandma.
Many roads lead to homelessness. Few lead outbound. And to understand homelessness one must experience it, which I have not. But with homelessness, tomorrow can be a long time. Robyn’s journey has been fraught with failures and false starts. But today there is cause for celebration. “My grandma sends good people my way to help me.” Her vision now includes an apartment, a job, and a dog. Today it’s Robyn’s day. Because tomorrow is her territory. We love you Robyn.
South Seattle Neighborhood | Damian
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