"I'm too old to sleep on wet grass."

I hadn't seen one of the regular guests at the breakfast program for a few weeks. Whenever one of the regulars doesn't show up, I have three thoughts:  they've found housing, they've been hospitalized (or worse), or they've just moved on. In the case of one particular guest, it turns out that she was hospitalized due to some problems with her heart.

This guest reminds me of my mother. She's about the same age as my mother was when she (my mother) died. She's also about the same height as my mother was. I had thought that she was housed and used the breakfast program to supplement her diet. Turns out, I was mistaken. She is in fact, homeless. She had been admitted to a local hospital and upon her release, she was put up in a hotel in order to ensure she had recovered. That lasted two weeks. When her hotel stay ended, she had no where to go. To top is off, the weather in the Bay Area lately has been raining and windy with sunshine interspersed here and there. 

She made her way to the men's and women's shelter located at the former Oakland Army Base. She didn't have a voucher to stay there, but the shelter staff took pity on her, and found her a cot. It was supposed to be for just one night, but because it was two days before Christmas, the shelter staff let her stay. So far, she's been there for four nights, without a voucher, due to the kindness of shelter staff.

When I saw her this morning, I told her that I had missed seeing her and asked her how she was. She told me her story and ended it by saying "I'm too old to sleep on wet grass."

When, in this country, did it become acceptable for an elderly woman to have to face the prospects of sleeping on wet grass?

I don't know her life story. I don't know how she came to be in this situation, this late in her life. What I do know is that she deserves better than to have to worry about sleeping on wet grass.