Graph 11

Graph 11

                I had just barely finished high school, taking extra classes to graduate a year early, and I find out I’m pregnant with my first baby girl. Her father decided to take off and join the military and I was left to fend my own. I stayed with my mother some and when I had enough of her nagging I dreadfully stayed with my father and his girlfriend that was just a tad older than i. When I had enough of her immaturity I hopped from grandparents, to aunts houses and even stayed with friends.

                My daughter was born and I finally said ok, that’s enough we need our own place. So we borrowed some money here and there and used all we had and found the first apartment that was available. We split the rent with a cousin, worked full time jobs and sent Natalie off to daycare. This place was nothing to brag about, you had to fight for a parking spot, and while carrying a carseat, a baby and a handful of groceries up the first set of stairs on the outside of the building in the middle of winter so the steps were always a little slick. Then you would reach the inside set of stairs that you had to pretty much climb like a latter and half your foot barely fit on them. It was always a pain in the butt getting into and out of that apartment. The kitchen was big enough for a small sink, a small stove and a refrigerator. All of the walls were slanted because it was pretty much the attic. If I lived there for much longer I’m sure I would have become hump backed and it sucked taking a shower because you had to stay hunched over in order to fit in the darn thing. Then on top of that there was never any heat or hot water. It was just awful!

                We finally moved, it didn’t get much better but at least I only had to walk 5 steps and I was into the trailer. We split the rent again with another couple we had gone to high school with. I had my second child, a boy, and became a stay at home mom because he was very ill. I was taken for granite most of the time and was probably thought of as the only house cleaner. Our friends that lived with us were pigs, I always cleaned up after everyone and I had enough of my living room being turned into an arcade. They played halo nonstop and he didn’t even work so he literally sat on the couch all day every day and stuffed his smelly socks in the couch cushions!! So that was the end of that one, I broke my lease and I was out of there.

                After living in three more crap holes we had enough. Especially the last one, living in a one bedroom apartment, that’s right, one bedroom, with two kids and a third on the way! We got good jobs after desperately searching for months and got as far away from that town as we could. We found a house, yes an actual house, with three bedrooms and really nice neighbors. I had my third baby and things started to get bad with the landlords. They wanted to jack up the price because I had another baby, then they wanted to kick us out because they wanted to move back in, ugh it was just an ongoing battle with them and they were very rude.

                We applied for first time home buyers loan and got approved!  It really isn’t that simple either we waited quite sometime after applying to at least 4 other company’s first. Our realtor showed quite a few places, but in our price range from $150,000-$170,000, what did we expect a mansion! Just when all hope was lost and thinking we were going to have to live in a hotel because the landlords were kicking us out we find the most perfect house on the market. The people who had owned it bought it through Repo and selling it for $180,000, and making some pretty good money on it. We have our own private drive and very far away from the road. I don’t ever worry about my kids being near the road when they play outside. We have no neighbors, 6 wooded acres, a brand spanking new 15,000 dollar 2 car garage with electric door openers and a wood stove! Following the brick pathway from the garage goes all the way up to our 28 by 60 square foot double wide with a nice front deck, a huge burgundy star above the front 3 windows, and a burgundy door that opens up into the most beautiful home. Hardwood floors everywhere, a stone fireplace, a huge office/toy room, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths a brand new deck on the back of the house that overlooks our wonderful back yard. My master bedroom has a master bathroom connected to it with a “his and hers” sink and a Jacuzzi tub with jets! My whole family loves it here. It’s absolutely everything we had ever wished for. The path was a struggle, but it just makes it even sweeter knowing where we had been and that we finally did it.