Thanks everyone for the warm welcome!! I enjoy reading all the stories of others here, so I guess I should include mine. So, Here goes...
I have been a sort-of nomad most of my life. Grew up in Allegheny County, PA but spent 3 years as a teenager in Saginaw, MI after my parents
divorced. My younger brother and I moved back to PA and I completed my senior year of high school there. After graduation I had a couple of jobs.
Got married and had a child. At 21 my then husband and I decided to move to FL because he was laid-off most of the year; things were not
very good in the early 70's job wise.
I will skip over most of those years because they were unremarkable except to say that I gave birth to my second child in 1977, and my marriage was not very good. In 1980 at the age of 9, my son became very ill with what was finally diagnosed as Crohn's disease. So, for the next 8 years it was nothing but doctor visits and spending lots of time in hospitals and watching our son suffer with this. When he was 17 we were told that there was nothing else the doctors could do for the young man.
What should we do, what should we do? I said that same prayer over and over for a couple of months. Finally, one day my husband came
home and said that he was talking to a co-worker about our dilemma and he suggested we take our son to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester.
I had never thought of that so I guess you could say that my prayer was answered. I got on the phone and called the clinic. We obtained
an appointment on October 31st; Halloween has a different meaning for me. By then our son was 18 so I let him make any final decision
for what the doctors recommended. I rented a car and just my son and I drove from Tampa, Fl to Rochester, MN for the visit.
There is only one word that describes the Mayo Clinic; AWESOME. If any of you here on this forum have a medical issue that you cannot
get clear answers for, go there. They pull no punches and tell you the truth. We were there for one week and they recommended that
my son have a colostomy. Tough decision for an 18- year-old. Because of monetary issues, the surgery was set to take place at the Mayo in Jacksonville, Fl. If you saw my son today (now 47), you would not believe that he was ill for such a long time with such a debilitating disease.
I left my husband in 1998, had a series of jobs, bought the condo, sold it. Bought a house and had to take in roommates to help with bills.
One day a county worker came to my door and said that they received funding to widen both of the very busy streets I lived on. I was on
the corner!!!!!!! I would not have a yard on either side!!!! Piss on that, I sold the house. I rented for a while, then did the roommate thing
where I was the roommate. I did that until last year. I took my SS early at 62 and worked part time 3 days a week. But standing and walking
on concrete flooring is not good for the pain of arthritis, so in June of 2017 I made the mistake of moving BACK HOME to PA. I now live in my son's cellar...LOL LOL. It really is not as bad as it seems...I have a roof over my head and cheap rent.
I have a brother in Phoenix that I can visit but I really want to live the van life. I did not mention that I lived in my Bronco II and then a
Kia Rio for a few months a few years ago. So I know I can do the van life. Does anyone have a van and would like to partner up? I want to move up from being a cellar dweller to a van dweller...LOL. Thanks for reading. I did not mean to write a novel.
I absolutely understanding you needing peace in your spirit....I so get that!
