2. The Eviction 7 months post surgery - The Plan to Rise

     I was healing.  I was doing well in school.  Everything was coming together when my landlord/friend showed up with a somber look on his face.  They needed to move back into their home.  They would be in a homelessness type situation soon.  

    I'll be honest, at first I was upset.  Financially, this would devastate me.  I mauled my options over for a few days.  The truth was that I had been miserable living in their home since the pandemic hit but I didn't have the money to move out.  There was a one bedroom apartment in the basment of this house which was rented out to this insane individual who was trying to live in this apartment with 3 children!  He had 2 girls and a boy ranging in ages between 7 and maybe 14.  A man with a teenage girl, a prepubescent girl and a young boy all crammed together into this 1 bedroom basement apartment. One bedroom!  There should be laws against this type of thing.  The mother didn't seem to care as she dropped off her bevy of children to go stay with him every other week. She was obviously no better as a parent. I kept running out of hot water to bathe my children and myself.  The dishwasher doesn't wash the greatest in cold water and the fact that he never kept these children on any kind of routine made it hard to keep my children asleep at night.  He would often come home with his children banging around and making loud noises after 10pm at night on school nights.  My son was constantly being disturbed in his sleep. My son has autism, an intellectual disability and ADHD. 

    Adam played video games loudly all night sometimes and the noise seemed to be amplified every time I put my head down on my pillow to sleep.  We had to share the backyard with this nut job.  My children and I became increasingly uncomfortable being outside in the yard.  He just made it very uncomfortable with the way he glared at us.  For my children and I to get any fresh air involved a long walk or a short drive to a park.  He would often spend hours (half the day) cleaning his car in the driveway while I could hear his children trying to kill eachother downstairs.  My neighbour was strange.  Adam took pictures of my son shovelling the driveway.  That made me so uncomfortable.  He spend a lot of time every day in front of my picture window looking into my place, playing in the flower bed.  Adam can't park his car worth a shit and had the ass end of his car hanging in our driveway.  I came close to hitting his car more than once.  Adam is just a very creepy guy in general.  Living near this nut job made me feel quite miserable.  I felt imprisoned in my own home!!!  I just dfidn't have the cash to get out of there!  Knowing this was going to happen no matter what I did, I started looking at community resources available to me and I started a dialogue with my landlords to see how we could help eachother get this done as fast and efficiently as possible while keeping costs down.  I was looking at a dozen trips to the dump and several more trips to second hand stores to drop things off.  It's just time that I didn't have.  

    My friends helped me by making things easier for the move in every way they could.  I think they understood as they also probably had a lot of downsizing to do as well. I was able to find a new home and move within a 3 week period thanks to an angel flying in to help me!  I have built an amazing family for myself.  Life was only going to improve after leaving the home with the creepy downstairs neighbour.  I wouldn't have to worry about this creep taking pictures of the driveway and of my kids.  I had been living in fear for a few years with Adam living downstairs and it was beginning to take its toll on my mental health.  This guy went completely postal after he found out we got the covid vaccine.  I had tried to explain this to my landlord a year prior. Unfortunately, I was in crisis over the living situation at the time and all he got to see was me having a complete meltdown. I needed the vaccine to have surgery.  The person coming to get me at the hospital needed to be vaccinated. It was the summer after the trial surgery.  My pain was making a come back.  My best friend had taken my pain killers.  Every day I was living on the edge trying to talk myself off the ledge.  I was overwhelmed.

I felt sorry for my landlord.  He had no idea what he was walking into with this nut job living downstairs.  Adam decided to fight the eviction.  Predictable.  Funny coming from a guy who used to praise my friends for being such great landlords on Facebook! They are good people who didn't deserve to have to downsize but in today's economy, everyone is struggling and not making the same living wage they were pre-pandemic.  To top it off, the cost of living has increased dramatically this past year.  Interest rates have increased.  Canadians everywhere are losing their dream homes.  It's just the reality of living in today's world.  I would struggle more financially but so does everyone else.  You just find ways to make it work.  I have before and I will do it again.

I tried to move as much of my own stuff as I could before the moving company came to grab the rest.  I was trying to save money.  We were in the middle of a heat wave with 10 days to move everything.  I had my son helping me since he wasn't fully registered at his new school yet and his records were in a state of transfer.  I overdid it.  There.  I said it.  I carried heavy boxes up an down 2 flights of stairs until I started vomitting only to take a break and start again within 30 minutes.  I pushed myself hard like I never pushed myself before.  I was off narcotics.  I felt normal.  I brought out the She-Hulk in me! On the fourth day of moving my things, my ear pain came back with a vengeance!  My original pain was coming back.  I was angry at myself.  I tried reaching out to my specialist.  Knowing that my one year check up was coming up, I decided to hold off until seeing my neuromodulation nurse to get checked out.  I started up my pain medication again. I held on.

Another problem I had was with the transfer of services.  Not having wifi available at home made it difficult to attend classes and do my homework online.  Not every teacher was understanding and patient.  I failed one class and got my first low grade on an assignement starting the new semester in September.  It took a good 30 days to get the services set up at home.  This was a quick unplanned move for me.  I have two children on the autism spectrum.  My moves are usually done gradually over a period of time to help my children adapt to the changes.  This move was done really quickly.  My son was having issues transferring high schools.  I had to buy him all new school uniforms, which was yet another unforeseen expense.  My daughter was having meltdowns for days refusing to go to school.  August/September 2023 were complete write-offs.  My grades took a huge hit.

The second block of my semester, I doubled down to get my grades back up.  I wanted to see a GPA no lower than 3.5 before the next semester.  In November I was able to see my neuromodulation nurse and I was also able to see my neurosurgeon!  Unfortunately, my daughter threw a tantrum that morning and I had to take her with me for my check up.  I was extremely late for my appointment but they still took the time to see me. When I got in, I explained my financial situation over an unplanned move.  I hadn't been able to pay my utilities since the move.  Christmas was coming.  I have two special needs children to think of.  I kept what little cash I had to make a good Christmas for my children.  You only live through childhood once.  I've been in pain my whole life.  I can wait.

In January 2024 I had my device tweaked. I did a rapid detox. And I was ready for my placement! My first step in getting back up on my feet.