I grew up in foster care in Wisconsin, and after moving to one very last foster home where the parents were so weird and the foster dad could make his 13 years old son cry, I had to put my feet down and get out. I had enough of foster care and threatened my social worker that I would go live on the streets if my social worker didn't let me get an apartment of my own. That prompted/forced my social worker to find me an apartment and I moved out and I was 18 years old and with not one penny in my pocket. The new foster care agency was real good and paid my rent until my SSI kicked in, and then I ran out and rented a house for only $360/month. I often went hungry for one or two days. I had friends whose families would help me out and let me eat at their houses, etc. No social workers or VR people thought I could survive, they would talk shit to me for renting that house, etc, told me I would fail, etc...but I told everyone to fuck off because I am now an adult and can take of myself and can handle everything and that I don't need them. I've been on my own since, and it's been almost 11 years since. I've been through alot of shit. I've even been homeless for almost a year, etc...but I made it on my own and am here now in my own apartment in Texas and I am happy...all the shit I went through, even the homelessness, it was ALL worth it! I'm tougher than everyone thinks. When I was homeless I didn't give in and go back to my parents' house...no fucking way....I would rather be homeless than live with my abusive parents who liked to hit me all the time...no thanks. Someone suggested that I move in with my parents when I lost my apartment in St. Cloud, MN...I said HELL NO. Instead I went to live on a farm 70 miles away with 9 other people who were all really weird, two of those 9 people were teenage kids, they were there cuz their mother is a whore (for real...she has sex with different men every night and completely neglected her kids) and doesn't care and was never ever home, they had to share one bed, sometimes when their mother was home she would share the bed with her two kids, as we only had 3 beds and one couch, I looked after them, and the house had only three bedrooms and ONE BATHROOM...it was pure insanity but I toughed it out as I had no other choice, and saved my money up so that I can get the hell out of Minnesota for good and I moved to San Antonio after 11 months of being homeless and living on that farm! All that hell was worth it because I was able to save up enough money to actually make the major move clear across the country like I wanted, it made my plan a total success...I was SUPPOSED to move here in 2005 but my ex roommate fucked my plans up so I had to postpone that for 11 months so that I could save up my money all over again. I moved here in April of 2006. I am happy and content here in San Antonio and have no intentions of moving out of the city.
So, nope, I am not a failure as some people wanted to think I was. Just because I had been homeless for 11 months doesn't mean I failed. If it meant I failed, then I wouldn't be here posting on AllDeaf! Homelessness was just simply a glitch in my life, a temporary glitch, that got fixed. I'm here now in my own apartment and I am safe and happy.
