Everyone needs a place to call home

Although a small group of people overall are actually homeless, many are without a place to call home.

Feeling homeless and being homeless can be the same or it can be quite different.

Everyone , every person, every being ,whether they admit it or not, needs to feel there is a place that is home, that is safe, that is peaceful.

For some this so called home in a garden, or a park or in their physical house. Some find it in a religious or spiritual place or worship. Some find it in a bar and some find it on a website.

Over the past year , I personally have been working with my sister, building a website a place to share and place to learn and a place to find comfort. This website  https://whitebearsworld.com  is still in progress but it main focus is for children and their families that have a rare or chronic disease, to share their stories and learn from one another. A place to share ups and downs and a place to offer new found information(medical)

Also in this past year I have spent a good part of the year in the hospital with my daughter, who has VACTERL Syndrome. Over their year I found it impossible to work and properly care for her, my son and myself. We would physically be homeless if not for the kindness of my family , we are staying at my Dads house while we figure out of next move.

Life is crazy and hectic sometimes and recently I have realized how important being home is.

Having that safe zone. Knowing people care if I am ok.

I wish that for everyone, although running into a very old friend whom was holding a sign looking for help getting food. He is not only emotionally homeless but physically homeless as well.

It broke my heart to see and I felt even worse that I have no way to help.

Please always send kind wishes to others as many many are physically or emotionally homeless.

Hoping as https://whitebearsworld.com, unfolds it will offer some comfort for others fighting rare and chronic disease to feel like they have someone, even a stranger who cares to know they are ok

Hard to believe this is even me…

I have not written in a while. I have kind of been in a funk. I have a lot of emotions running through me and I am not sure where they will go and what I will be able to do to control the events that will follow.

I have always prided myself on taking care of myself. I have believed that somehow someway things will work out. I have believed that at the last moment something will come through and I will figure it out.

I am wrong. I am 3 -1/2 weeks away from actually being homeless. I have never thought that life would bring me here , but well here I am.

I have worked since I was 13 years old. I was never one to sit on my butt and do nothing, I was always the one who went out and found a way. Now it has been several years since I have had a real job, one I could count on , one that could count on me.

My daughter’s health has a lot to do with it. She is complicated at best, and she requires a ton of medical intervention. Appointments, surgeries, medications, treatments and so on. In addition to that she needs to be a normal kid, school, fun, life activities. I also have my teenage son home still in homeschooling, and my oldest who is on her own now.

I have tons of medical issues myself, I have tummy troubles. both knees need replacing, high blood pressure, weight issues and I have been fighting with depression and anxiety my entire adult life. With all these issues and my daughter’s issues finding work has been near impossible. I have tried at home jobs on the phone but they require mandatory times or good internet or other issues that I am not able to accomplish, not at lack of trying though. I have tried cashier jobs as they are more flexible timing, but standing for long periods of time cause my knee pain to be intolerable.

I have managed to maintain my residence, by living off my daughter’s SSI which is under 700 a month and my ex-husband was paying child support, which he did not do for the first 15 years after divorce, recently he found himself in jail and the checks stopped coming about 2 months ago. This has forced me to not be able to pay the bills at all , therefore rendering us homeless. My Dad has agreed to let us stay with him while we figure it all out, so at least we will be safe and loved, but it does not change the fact that it screws with my emotions. I have reached out to every organization only to be turned away each and every time.

I find it crazy that in a situation such as mine there is no help available. Housing has had a closed list for 8 years with no chance of getting in for at least 5 more years, I did not ask for my daughter to have all these health issues, nor did I ask her Dad to die from brain cancer, The only thing I could have done better was save years ago when I was working. I did not know where life would take me and I was under the impression that I would find a way.

I find myself fighting my depression with the help of medication but all I really want to do is climb in my bed and stay there for ever. I don’t, I get up I take care of my kids, I take care of meds and appointments. When my daughter is hospitalized I stay with her and go back and forth and check on my son. I make jokes and entertain her and all the kids like I am alive, like I am happy like I am not the mess I feel inside.

I don’t know what the near future will hold for us, but I do know that somehow someway I will find a way to not let it get the best of me.