She is 27, but if you talk to her, you have to do so on a 12 year old level. She is mildly retarded and like so many people with her mental problems, she is very affectionate, which is often either misinterpreted or deliberately taken advantage of. When the men she sleeps with reject her the next day (ie. don’t want to be her ‘boyfriend’) she is confused and hurt and feels rejected. I spent three hours one Saturday afternoon listening to her cry, feeling her pain and trying to convince her she is worthwhile. A week ago, after months of working on her to do it, she called home and her father is sent her a bus ticket so she can come home. I took her to the bus station on Friday.

The bus station with E_____ was an adventure. She was very emotional – she wanted to go home, but did not want to leave her friends she has made here.  Honestly, I think her family life at home is not the best: her mother was screaming at her over the phone while we were in the bus station, but what the hell can you do? She is no doubt better there, where she will be monitored and be inside, where people who love her will make sure she takes her medicine, than here, where she sleeps on the street in 35 degree weather, is taken advantage of sexually, has no one to monitor her, to help her.

Sometimes, there is no clear cut answer. Sometimes, loving people means doing the least worst thing and not the best thing. Sometimes, there is no best thing. Sometimes, love is hard.

Always, love wins.