I drove by my house...

I drove by my house (where the kids live) and ran two arguing crackheads out of the yard. I was like "You need to get out of my yard, please." The guy puffed up and said "That's some bitch ass shit!" and the girl he'd been arguing with was like "Come on." and they left. Hopefully that's the end of it. But if not it's fine because WE GOT THE KEYS TO THE KIDS' APARTMENT TODAY!

If you'd told me 14 years ago when I bought my house that I'd one day be ready to dump it I wouldn't have believed you. I was so proud of myself for buying a house at 23 as a single parent. I felt RIDICULOUSLY accomplished. I couldn't afford anything expensive, but me and Shadow were happy and felt safe for many years. Unfortunately, things changed.

Norfolk Southern dug up the railroad tracks behind my house in preparation for what was "soon" supposed to be the Chief Ladiga Trail. That trail never did come to fruition, but worse than that removing the tracks caved in the drainage ditch behind me and no one gave a single fuck about us when my house flooded a foot deep because of it. Not Anniston, not Calhoun County, and certainly not Norfolk Southern. Since I wasn't in a flood zone, neither did Alfa insurance. 

After that my giant pecan trees started dropping huge, massive limbs on the house. I had insurance, but it was still scary and a hassle. I finally got my trees trimmed with my tax refund one year. Unfortunately, by that point I had already amassed a list of home repairs and improvements that needed to be done (including the flood damage), with exactly zero extra dollars to accomplish them. I did the best I could with every tax refund but once the neighborhood started declining I knew it was a lost cause. At that point I just did what I had to in order to keep the place livable and safe.

In 2017 my neighbor who'd moved away moved back in and has lived there without power and water ever since. Well, I suppose I should say she didn't have her own utilities turned on, but why would she need to do that when she could just steal mine? Yes, I ended up having to LITERALLY lock my outdoor faucet and my brother had to come disassemble some makeshift wiring from the back of my garage that went directly into one of her windows. Shaun ended up cutting power to my garage to ensure it wouldn't happen again. I don't know that it hasn't since my bill is so high recently, but it's about to not be my problem anymore.

No more hearing the thief neighbor yell and fight at all hours of the night. No more seeing her mess of stolen shopping carts and other random shit she's been accumulating. No more hearing the horns honking when people drive by like we don't know they're signaling to buy drugs. No more wondering who's squatting in the 3 "empty" houses across the street and if they mean us any harm. No more having to run crackheads off my property. No more finding used needles in the yard. No more being worried about being robbed or that the kids aren't safe. We. Are. Done.

I hate that I'm feeling so "good riddance" towards a place I once loved so dearly, but I can't help it. Too much has changed. I'm sad to leave all of my buried pets behind. I'm sad to never see my dog room again where so many fostered animals learned what love and a home felt like. I'm sad that we're leaving the place that Shadow was so excited to move into when he was young. I'm sad to leave the place where he spent all but 5 years of his childhood. I'm sad that something I was once so proud of turned out this way. This is a really bittersweet experience. But growing hurts so onward and upward!