Ruff Times. All Facts: On 03/09/2009 our daughter died. She was 24. No, not drugs or an accident. In her sleep. I have read the autopsy report, many years after her death, and it was due to her heart and the fact she was born with 1 1/2 lungs. She left us (thankfully) 3 great and wonderful kids. We adopted them, finalized on 03/23/2010. I was laid off from my job on the same day and the company moved to Wisconsin. Timing is everything. Unemployment ran out ages ago. I am disabled (heart, and med prices are a hoot.) At the time of their mother’s death, the kids were 1, 3 and 6. They are now 14, 17, and 20. The 20 year old lives on his own now. I am on social security. My better half works as a Caregiver for an elderly woman. She works 12 hours a week. (Every little bit helps.) The social security pays the bills, somewhat. (Rent, elec, gas, cable, internet (kids need it for school), food, clothing, list is endless.) We applied for food stamps, and are still waiting to see if we qualify. Basically we have hit the wall with attempting to keep up with an avalanche of problems appearing out of nowhere. (Our vehicle is a 2004, so is the other one. Our get-to-the-grocery-store car was given to us by a friend or we wouldn’t have it.)Two weeks ago, $ 315 brake job…and that was our monthly kick in the head as to “what do we do now?”
Times are tough all around, and not just for our family, we know this for a fact.(And in case you’re wondering where our son-in-law is, in a Texas prison.) He let us know at the funeral (at the grave site itself) that he could not raise the kids on his own, then he disappeared to Texas, where he got into trouble and now is an inmate.
Our main concern, which is always the kids, is that sometimes we feel ashamed that we can’t do for them as other parents do for their kids. (We’re 68 and 62, and always the oldest parents at back-to-school night, or at a soccer or basketball game, or at parent-teacher meetings. Which doesn’t bother us in the least, we thrive on it.) The shame comes from the fact that we are out of suggestions in regards to trying to put food on the table more than once a day. The kids’ schools take care of lunches, save for weekends and the summertime. I am not asking for the world, just a little help that will get us through each day, especially after bills, which also includes trying to accommodate 2 teens that are great students and are at that age where we, as parents, don’t want them to also feel ashamed that they have to hide the fact that on more than one occasion per week they have to skip a meal or two. I’m, once again, not asking for the world on a silver platter, but just a little help between social security and the little that is left after bills are paid. Thank you. I am hesitating to place an accompanying photo with my message. (I could place a photo of an empty refrigerator but I won’t) Thank you again.
Our paypal.me link follows: paypal.me/rufftimes2022
I am hopeful that the link above works. I was born in the 1950s and am not really up-to-date on how things work in a computer world.