Carrie Cochran

ccochran@enquirer.com

Nate McKinney and I were drawn to the river and its grace Tuesday in the early morning light.

McKinney was watching the sun come up at Sawyer Point, and I was looking for a weather photo.

"This is where I go for peace and serenity," he told me.

Working the morning shift is a mercurial mix. Sometimes I'm chasing tragedy: Car wrecks, overnight fires and homicides. And when the city is quiet, I'm chasing the light: Watching where the sun will rise, hoping to capture the grandeur of our city.

I took his picture, then we chatted for awhile. We shared our common affection for the river, and the stillness of the morning. We remarked that not everyone gets this time.

Eventually McKinney revealed that he's been homeless for two weeks. He's staying at the City Gospel Mission, which provides overnight shelter for homeless men, as well as residential substance abuse treatment for men and women. McKinney told me that he believed God put me in his path that morning to tell his story.

"Admitting where I'm coming from is part of my journey," he said. "I've made a couple of mistakes in my life."

He thanked me for listening. I thanked him for sharing. We exchanged numbers, without any clear reason to do so – just that we may need each other in the future. We hugged.

"I've started reconnecting with family," he said. "There are going to be people who only see me as I was in the past. And I'll have to deal with that."

McKinney said that he knows the road ahead of him will not be easy, but he now sees a path that he didn't before. He said he's had to hit a terrible low in order to figure it out.

"I'm not the man I want to be, but I'm better than the man I was," he said. "I'm humbled today. I appreciate life."