I write this not for pity, nor praise or should have's, I write this as testimony of truth to
remind myself and show others how resilient we truly are when you have faith and love
from your heart.
Missouri: We have arrived!
Just watching his face when his feet were planted on Missouri soil spoke volumes.
We began by staying with his Mom and Step-dad until we could find a home. His Mom had a job set up
for him at Brown Shoe where she worked. They called it Piece-time pay. The more you produce over the minimum
per hour, the more your check will be. It didn't take him long to get a rhythm going and increased his production rapidly.
His best friend from childhood gifted him with a 4 year old Black and Tan Coon Hound named Drum. He was in heaven!
We began looking for a house to buy and nothing close was affordable. We finally found one in a town further south. He
had a distance to drive so he applied for a job at the shoe factory there and accepted it when they offered him a job. It wasn't long
until the recession hit and Missouri became Misery for many, including us.
The shoe factories began shutting down and being very rural most jobs were taken by family members of the owners. We hadn't been in Missouri long enough to draw unemployment so we had to apply to California. Being out of state meant a delay in receiving it and
we soon learned how resourceful Carl could be to provide for us.
Our car was repossessed, we lost our home, he couldn't pay his child support until unemployment came in (3 months wait but
would be back paid) and his ex-wife had him over a barrel and took joy out of having him arrested for non-support. we moved to a rental house that should have been condemned. We had each other and we would get past this, What did he do?
He split wood for a neighbor in trade for an old Chevy Pickup. He hunted for squirrel, rabbit, racoon, turkey. He fished and gigged for frogs.
During the late mornings and afternoons he drove the roads for aluminum cans and sold them to the re-cycler for gas and food money.
Sounds like a movie doesn't it? It's true and we survived it. The electric was shut off and we used a camp stove and lantern. We played
UNO, checkers and go fish by lantern at the kitchen table at night with the boys. Our water well luckily, had a crank so we had water.
The night the police came to arrest him for non-support, the officer looked around and saw the camp stove and us by lantern light with kids and he apologized saying he was embarrassed he had to do this and you could tell he truly meant it. He refused to cuff Carl as was standard.
It took so much out of me to make the call to my mom for bail money, I had no other option. And so began the "pack your crap and
come back home". Sounds simple, but it wasn't in me.
It wasn't too much longer and the straw on the back almost did it's job. Oh it gave a damn good try on both of us. It had me on my knees
near breaking but one little voice called to me and asked through the door "Mommy are you crying?"