I feel like a fool being here asking strangers for help. I won’t just give up, not without knowing I tried every option available, so if i’m a fool for doing this, so be it, id be anything if it was for my child. I am here because I have fallen on some very hard times, to say the least. I am a single mother to a beautiful autistic teenage son, I often say I want to be just like him when I grow up. He is more than every endearing word created, the ones that haven’t been created as well. It is an honor to be able to say I am his mother. With all the chaos going on in our lives right now, I sometimes wonder if God had made him special just for me, knowing I would fall on hard times, so that I can look at him and remember that life is too beautiful to give up on. I couldn’t live a day without him, I wouldn’t be able to. I have raised him myself his entire life, I don’t really have any family, I have lost a lot. His father is in his life, he didn’t contribute much to the raising of our son, more of a weekend dad. We used to have a decent co parenting relationship and would talk regularly about our son, I would fill him in on how our son was doing as we live a few hours apart. A few years ago that all changed when he met his now wife. I was happy for him and welcomed her, it meant for me, so much, as now I didn’t have to go through the subject falling back onto us getting back together, I was free. I feel like a prisoner now more than ever though. For close to a decade, we never went to court for custody, it was easily discussed between us, never an issue. A few short months after he began his new relationship, I was served papers to appear in custody court. Its been a long, ongoing battle that is completely unnecessary. I still do not understand why they keep taking me to court, he does not communicate with me anymore, its always through her, needless to say we don’t speak. I have sole legal and primary custody, he only has custody every other weekend. The transportation agreement was, he would drive the almost 3 hours to our home for pick up Friday, then Sunday I would meet him halfway. I can no longer make that agreement, and was served papers for a petition for contempt. I also can’t afford an attorney so I always represent myself. The reason I can’t make the transportation agreement is because my car was taken and totaled, a week before I was to be going back to work. I wasn’t able to find transportation so I lost my job. I found a new job and was hired the same day I was let go. A job in walking distance, a job making $25 less than I was. The home my son and I live in was put up for sale last summer, our new landlord took ownership days after my car was totaled. I honestly in my heart believed I would be able to find a way to work. I had told him about what happened and that rent would be about 2 weeks late for my first payment as I was just starting back to work. I never got that paycheck I was planning on. The 4th day into work I became very ill and was sent home to be in quarantine. My test was negative but I was extremely ill, I was told I couldn’t work with being symptomatic even though my test was negative. I was out a couple weeks, and then transportation issues, I didn’t receive much of a paycheck seen as I wasn’t there to make the hours. I tried to hang onto the job as long as I could, till I had my own vehicle, that was all I needed. I am now 4 months behind on rent and just had a hearing 2 days ago, the judge siding with the landlord. Since December I had asked for his assistance in helping me with information I needed so I could finish applying for rental assistance. H’e wouldn’t give me a simple paper stating how much I am to pay plus any arrears. They would have paid him his rent. I had no money to give him, I did all I could do. Just a couple weeks ago, almost 4 months after my car was totaled, I finally received a check, not enough to take care of anything because I still owed on the vehicle. The dealership I was financing it through was cut a check to cover what was left on my loan, I was given the leftovers. Now I need to come up with 4 months worth of rent or cost to move. I would love to stay in our home we have been in for over 5 years, my son is going to be crushed. He is doing so well in school, he loves going, has his friends and wants to join the soccer team. We also have a small cat and a large dog that makes it hard for renting. I’m not finding anything for rent in his school district and I can’t afford to buy. As of right now I owe my landlord $2700. I get my 2nd check tomorrow, my first one was $40 for 3 hours, but it wont even cover 1 month, and being we just went to court yesterday… I’m running short on time. I have to miss work again, because of being sued by my ex husband over transportation, that is completely out of my hands. His wife suggested I take an uber every other week for the hour and a half ride to get my son then the hour and a half home with him, I can’t afford that. Right now we are living extremely tight, we didn’t have much of a Christmas, which is fine because we had each other, it just becomes defeating. I feel defeated in my ability to maintain a home. I try to keep the way I feel to myself, away from my son, but I’m so depressed that it takes all of my energy just to put clothes on for the day. It will take me longer till I am back on my feet, with the pay cut I took along with now having to eventually buy a new vehicle, but I will get there, I hope and pray. I won’t give up! With all the stress I am under, taking care of my amazing child, it would alleviate some of my worries if anyone could help us keep our home. If I can find a way to make that burden go away, then the added stress from being brought back to court for custody and not having a vehicle, and the stress from that, maybe wouldn’t weigh me down so much. I’m afraid if I can’t figure something out quickly to change my landlords mind, that we will end up homeless, I, will end up homeless as my son would have to go live with his father and stepmother, something he doesn’t want to do, without his pets he is in love with, without me, we have never lived apart, never went more than a short week out of the year without each other. The weekends when he is with his father is hell, I don’t get to speak with him when he is there, I can only imagine how it would be if he were to be living there. And then… I will be homeless with his dog and kitty, beyond heartbroken. Without him I couldn’t exist. I apologize for the length of our story, I left out many other events and tried to focus on the ones most crucial for whoever reads this and might want to help. We would appreciate it more than you could ever begin to understand, we would pay it forward every time we were given an opportunity. To those of you who took their time to read about us, I appreciate you as well. Thank you for allowing me to take up some of your time.
Sincerely,
A Fool
https://paypal.me/melissaclarke1769?country.x=US&locale.x=en_US