Just imagine if you will. . .

 You are single, living in your own apartment.  You work long days, but find your career, though not ideal, rewarding enough.  You enjoy your small but quaint apartment as you come through the door after putting in your 9-5.

 Ah yes, perhaps a cold drink will help rejuvenate you a little bit - so you reach for that twelve pack of your favorite beverage - perhaps its a nice cold soda, beer or bottle of water - whatever tickles your fancy.

 Perplexed, you thought you had 4 left, but now you see that there are only 3.  You shrug it off, your mind a little frazzled.  “Maybe I drank an extra one the other day,” you think.  “After all, the last two weeks have been a bit grueling and in the moment I may have seized another refreshing drink.”

 Now imagine this sort of thing goes on for another two weeks, and then two months, and then six months, eight months, ten months, and more!  First its a soda here, then its a Twinkie there.  The roll of toilet paper seems a bit smaller than when you used it last, and you could’ve sworn there were a few more squirts of toothpaste left.

 But again, these things are all so small, its easy to look them over.  After all, who really remembers just how much shampoo was left in the bottle anyways?

  Well, this is exactly the sort of thing that happened to one man in Tokyo, Japan not long ago .  And it started to annoy him so much that he decided to install security cameras in his home to see just what in the world was going on.

 Much to his amazement, it wasn’t mere forgetfulness on his part, or a large rat taking his food, or even spontaneous decombustion for that matter (its an epidemic, really). . .No, it turns out that it was a 58 year old homeless woman who had been living in his closet for about one year! She had been neatly eating and showering when the man was gone for work!

(Apparently this is the actual closet she lived in - minus the mailbox and sign of course)

 An incredible story indeed, its hard to imagine living a year of your life confined within an apartment, and even more of that year confined within a closet barely large enough to fit yourself into. Though in the wrong, give this woman some credit for her incredible will for survival!

 But with all that said, next time you find you are missing a sock or the bag of potato chips seems a little low, it might be time to start checking your closets. . .

It might also be time to redefine “coming out of the closet.”

-  IgniteTheMind