09/23/2023
For 4 straight years now, I have had to deal with so much loss. And it just doesn't stop. I'm so angry that my children and I have been dealt such a sh*tty hand but I can't let it destroy me. They say it takes a village so I must ask for help.
In August 2019 we were forced to move from our home in Fairmont with a 30 days notice which ended with all of our stuff in storage and living for a week in a motel before finding our rental house in Blue Earth.
Then came the COVID disaster and I once again became a stay at home mom and a full time teacher of 5 boys (during this time we discovered we were welcoming #6)
Then, we started losing people in my family.
In July 2020, my uncle unexpectedly passed away. Due to restrictions, my grandmother ( who was 89 and living in a nursing home) was not able to attend her son's funeral. I will never know if that was a blessing but I can tell you, it changed me forever. That woman was the rock of our family and I have never met a person with more faith in the Lord than her. Just shy of 10 months later, she suffered a severe stroke. She met my daughter for the first time that week and because she couldn't speak, I will never know her thoughts on me finally having a daughter (after 5 boys, nobody ever expected me to have a girl). She left us a few days after mother's day 2021.
2 months later, tragedy struck again when I unexpectedly lost my cousin Becky. Her death left us with some many questions that could never be answered. When I tell you I thought that was enough to break me, I had absolutely no idea just how much worse it could get.
October 2021- I watched my little sister's heart break over the tragic loss of her boyfriend. A week later, I watched my dad, uncles and cousin sing at the funeral of my great uncle after he lost his battle to cancer. May 5th, 2022 my world changed again in a way I never could have imagined. When someone you love loses their battle with mental illness, it's a pain like no other. My cousin Travis was pretty much a big brother to my sister and I. The memories of making those calls to my sister and my dad and telling them he was gone will never leave me. The week of his funeral, we found out the house we had been renting was being foreclosed on. The homeowner was over $30,000 behind on payments and in June 2022 the house was sold at sheriffs sale. In December, after the 6 months wait period ended, we were offered $5,000 to vacate the property just a week before Christmas which we declined. We then were given the option to enter into a lease with a management company on behalf of the bank that now owned the property. We filled out all the documents and waited to hear back.
February 2023 my cousin lost her 13 year old daughter to su***de. No family should ever grieve the loss of a child, especially not like that. My dad and I went to the visitation together and on our drive home, we talked about how quickly we had been losing so many we loved and our fears for the future. But never in a million years could I fathom what would come next.
March 2023 after a brief illness, I tragically lost my aunt and made the trip to IL for the first time since I was 12 years old to say goodbye to her. During this same week, I let our 2 dogs around 9pm to go potty and 1 of them, our 10 year old pom/spaniel mix literally disappeared. We searched and spread the word but he never was seen again.
April 2023 my dad was brought to Rochester hospital for kidney failure. He underwent surgery and came home with stents draining his kidneys.
May 2023 we were served with a 90 days notice to vacate. We contacted the attorney in charge, told them we still haven't receive any further instructions or any denial for the rental process. We were told they were going to look into this since they were not aware tenants were in the property and they would contact us back with further instructions.
June 2023 my dad underwent emergency surgery for a major bowel obstruction that almost ruptured. He spent the next month in Mankato hospital, he wasn't able to be there when my son, his oldest grandson graduated high school. A week later, the day before the graduation party, my dad was diagnosed with cancer. He came home for about a week and then once again was hospitalized for gastric outlet obstructions. Once again he was stabilized by having stents placed and came home for 8 days only to get sick again.
We now knew his cancer was stage 4 with little chance of survival. After almost another month in the hospital and watching him decline dramatically, we made the call to bring him home on hospice. 17 days later, I held his hand as he peacefully passed away at the age of 65, just 5 months after he got sick and only 3 months past the cancer diagnosis.
On the eve of his visitation, I was served with an eviction notice. Yesterday was the hearing date and I learned that the owners have no intentions on renting the property and they are giving us until October 31st to vacate the property. Once again, my children and I are facing the possibility of being homeless. While I have asked for a trial that is scheduled for October 10th, the judge really can do nothing but follow the law and cannot force them to enter into a lease with us so moving out is inevitable.
We are looking for housing immediately that will allow us to keep our 2 pets because losing them too is not an option. We have a 10.5 year old black lab who spends all her days lounging around and a 2 year old rescue Siamese cat (totally hypoallergenic as our 12 year old son is very allergic to cats). Both are fixed and vaccinated. Although 3-4 bedrooms is ideal, even a large 2 bedroom is better than nothing as we have 4 boys and 1 girl who still rooms with me.
I'm sharing my story not for sympathy, I assure you I hate when people feel sorry for me. Making my story public is hard but I feel I have no other choice to get the word out in hopes that my family can find a place to live in the next 30 days. All I ask is that you share and keep your eyes and ears open for us.
