When I last left you, me and my daughter had moved out of my grandmother's house and into our own apartment. We thrived in that not so little apartment. I continued going to school and graduated in May 2005 (whew! still don't know how I made it!). We got our own animals (a ferret and a dog) and made some great friends (some of whom I am still friends with today). Alyssa went to daycare, started school, and even learned to ride her tricycle right there at that apartment. We enjoyed long weekend mornings in the pool by ourselves during the summer and our dog loved chasing the geese year round.
Sounds wonderful, huh? Not always. I was a single mom. Supporting my child on one persons small income, but we made it work. I constantly had to rob Peter to pay Paul, but we made it. We made it through three different jobs and three different pay scales. We made it through school seasons, field trip fees, and the seemingly unending supply of photographers that wanted me to pay for my daughter's kindergarten pictures. We had fall pictures and spring pictures and even ACES pictures. We made it through daycare and after school care fees.
During the time in my apartment, I had one boyfriend come and go, had a guy friend who would take me out for dinner and a movie from time to time. But, also during that time, while my daughter was in Kindergarten, my baby's father contacted me. He was going through a divorce and he wanted to get back together with me. Mind you, I lived on the East Coast and he in Arizona...how exactly was that going to work?
But, I advised him as best a I could about what to do about his estranged wife, who had his three younger children, and got caught up in the romantic idea of him moving across country to be with me. Then, reality hit. He chose to try to work things out with his wife. Really, who could blame him? Needless to say, she did him wrong and he ended up in jail. Then, he wanted me....but too late, I had taken a step back to look at things. I realized that he didn't ask anything about my daughter, his oldest and it broke my heart. After that setback, I decided not to date for a while.
After a few years in our lovely apartment though, we made it. I bought a house. It took a year of searching for the right house on what I could afford, but I still have never regretted the decision. Like I said, it took a year of searching and three different real estate agents, but I found the one that I loved. And I went through hell to get it.
I had to bend over backwards to get the approval for my mortgage loan and just when that happened, I lost my job. Two weeks before closing, I was fired with no real excuse given. I quickly borrowed a friend's computer and sent my resume to every attorney that I could find and I hit the jackpot. I got another job within a week of losing my last one. So, the closing on my house was delayed a couple of weeks, but I got it anyways! And we loved it!
Continued from: Part One
Next post: Part Three
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