i was in my 30’s when I started 18 years ago. i don’t like change. so i gutted out working, in broken systems, with some of the most beautiful souls in DC. it has been an honor and a true privilege working with DC residents who took a chance and trusted me. cried with me. let me witness their pain and try to do something to fix it. i am sad to say that system failures on all levels has made me depressed. the kind of depression that creeps back with every success. that when you love the work and the people so much but resistance is met along the way from the systems and the people in them. i hope that now, in my early 50’s, that a new generation will experience the joy and heartache i have felt over the last 18 years.