Homeless

I don’t talk about it a lot. I’ve mentioned it now and again, the fact that I have twice been homeless. Let me explain to you what it’s like.

The Lead Up

I was newly divorced. I divorced my wife because I was working two jobs- for the Fire Department, and as the maintenance director for a steel mill, and she wouldn’t work. Originally, she wasn’t working because the kids were too young and it cost more for daycare than she would make. I was working two jobs to make it happen, then I would come home from work and my wife would tell me it was time for me to mow the lawn. Dinner wouldn’t even be on the table. The house wasn’t clean. She hadn’t done shit all day but watch TV. I got pissed one morning, put the TV on parental lock, and left her a note saying that once the house was clean, she could call me and I would give her the PIN to unlock the TV. That caused a HUGE fight.

Then there came the day that both kids had started school. I told my wife that she could get a part time job during the day. She refused, and said the whole reason she got married was so she wouldn’t have to work. I started feeling like a walking ATM, and told her so. More fights.

Then our female friends started telling the both of us that I was working too hard. After a year of this, during one of my shifts, a woman who worked at the fire department offered me her couch. I never went home again. Two months later, I filed for divorce and got an apartment. My wife accused me of leaving her for the other woman, but didn’t even consider the reasons why I left, even though I told her so.

Losing a Job

While the divorce was pending, the steel mill went into bankruptcy. I was laid off, along with 80% of the rest of the manufacturing division. That hurt, because that job was paying me almost $30k a year, more than I made at the fire department. I did get quite a bit of money out of them later, but that is a story for a later day. Either way, half of my income was now gone.

I was making $1000 every two weeks at the Fire Department. I lost $280 in taxes, leaving me $720 every two weeks. Following the state law formula, the court ordered that I pay $348 to my ex wife, nominally for child support, leaving me with $720 per month to live on. The support was taken from my check before I even saw it, so I wouldn’t be a ‘deadbeat dad.’ The rent on my apartment was $600, then there was electric.

Life Being Homeless

Within two months, I was homeless: I slept on friends’ couches for a couple of weeks. I had been forced to break my lease- I just didn’t have the money. Their wives/girlfriends didn’t like it, they were kinda funny and all, and now my friends were funny, too. (Those of you who get that reference are old, just saying)

So I started living in my car. I got a second job, picking up garbage after the Shamu show at Sea World. That paid less than $7 an hour. I bought a car at a “buy here, pay here.” I wasn’t eating much, I couldn’t afford it. I showered at work. As a perk of the job, the city allowed us to use the gym at the civic center for $20 per month. I joined so I could take showers at the gym. I worked out a lot because the gym was air conditioned.

My meals were wieners and mac n’ cheese. Sometimes I had 7-11 chili dogs, They were cheap. Once a week I treated myself to a drive thru burger. I lost almost 30 pounds that summer, but I was in great shape. I was running the combat challenge in just over three and a half minutes. Not world record time, but respectable. (The standard is 7 minutes or less. At the time, the men’s world record was 1:20, and the women’s was just under 4 minutes, IIRC) Here is what it looks like:

I lived in that car for about three months. I finally found a couple of roommates. There were three of us living in that 3 bedroom apartment: Two men and a woman. I worked two jobs: Fire department and janitor at Sea World. I also went to college at night, so I could make more money.

The point of this story is that I didn’t give up. I didn’t complain about how things were unaffordable. I didn’t stand on the corner and beg for money, nor did I accept charity. I didn’t scream for the government to give me handouts or any of that nonsense.

Today’s bitching and complaining is some weak assed bull crap.