Street Living
In case you didn’t know, I graduated in May of 2006. My lease expired on the 2nd of the month, so Jeff and I had to extend our lease by one month, which cost us an extra $400. I love pissing money away, but we couldn’t really do anything else. After our lease was up, I didn’t have a real job, and I didn’t want to get a new place, because I didn’t know where my job would lead me, and it would suck to be stuck in an area for a year if I got a job somewhere else.So I did what most college kids do, and I moved in with my dad. His apartment is awesome, I must say, it’s right off the metro in downtown DC, in the GW campus area. Foggy Bottom is the name of the area, walking distance from Georgetown. It’s kind of a hassle to get to work, but it’s manageable, it’s about a 45 minute commute or so on the metro and then driving the rest of the way.
My dad recently got a house in Silver Spring Maryland and convinced his wife to move down there with him from PA. I be perfectly honest, I was surprised that he convinced her to move down, because she is so set in her ways up there. I think the only reason that my dad convinced her to come down was because Cale, her son, was accepted to GW, and she would be closer to him if she was in MD, as opposed to northern PA.
My plan, assuming I didn’t find a job and a place to live by the end of the lease was to move in to my dad’s house. I just assumed that it wouldn’t be a problem, I mean I just crashed his one bedroom apartment for 3 months, what difference would it make to crash at is 5 bedroom house?
Apparently it’s a big difference. My dad spoke with Belle before about the subject and although hesitant, Belle agreed to let me stay. There would be some terms, and I would have to pay some rent, or something like that, but I would have a place to stay. I really don’t want to stay there; because that means that it will be about an hour drive with no traffic to get to work. I really just want to get on my feet and not have to worry about it, but I do need a backup plan.
So it came as quite the shock to me tonight when my dad came to the apartment (which he is no longer living in) and told me that Belle took issue with me staying there. Belle does not want me to stay at the house. My dad made sure that I understood that she’s under a lot of stress, with the move, the new job, and no income coming in for the past month or so. And while I certainly understand that these things cause a lot of stress (moving is one of the biggest stressors possible, and a new job is right up there, too) and stress can make people do odd things, I still just can’t get past the fact that she doesn’t want me to live there.
I can’t even imagine how the conversation went. I mean, that’s got to take some balls to do. “Hey honey, I need to talk to you about something. Your son, my step-son, well, I’ve decided that I don’t want him to live here. I feel like he will ruin my routine, and I’m not used to him being around, and it’s weird.” I know the opposite would never happen, where my dad would tell Belle that he doesn’t want Cale living there (Cale, by the way, will be living there). Those two are practically attached at the hip.
My dad kept stressing the point that it wasn’t me specifically; it would be the same with anybody. But you know what? It’s kind of hard not to take that personally. To have somebody say that they don’t want you in their house, when you’ve always felt like that was a place that you would always be able to go back to, that hurts.
I am eerily calm about the situation right now. I don’t know if I’m in shock about it or what. I mean, I know that no matter what I’m not going to be living on the street. Worst case scenario, I move back down to Virginia Beach. But still, the dejection of being kicked out of your parent’s home stings.
My dad tried to soften the blow by saying that he would see if he could extend the lease on the apartment for another month. The only problem with this is that nobody can afford it. The apartment is $1700 a month. If it was split three ways, it could be manageable, but that would mean going to my mom about it, and as much as she loves me, I think she might loathe my dad even more.
It’s a messed up situation, and I just can’t keep hoping that it will all be a moot point and that I will have a job and a place to live on my own very soon.
Maybe more on this topic later.
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