11/03/2024
It was good for a while. Photo is from the back deck of the house we were staying at in Durham.
I had hoped to be posting a more positive update but unfortunately things have gone south once again. For a few weeks Tiffany, Skyler (Tiffany's 20-year-old daughter), Rocky the Wonder Cat, and I had been staying with a former student of mine, an older lady living alone in Durham. She wanted company and her house needed a lot of attention. She had represented this as a mutually beneficial arrangement and I do believe it could have been good for all if us. We need a home and she wanted company and help with household tasks from meal prep to repairing a leaking sink drain... and it had seemed to be working out very well until around a week ago. She was used to living alone and having things a certain way and on a certain schedule. She turned out to be very inflexible and impatient and I guess was just unable to adapt to a household with other people with diverse schedules. Skyler is working 4pm until after 10pm 5 days a week and Tiffany and I both have to get going slowly in the morning, take meds and wait for them to start working, get coffee and start moving around, and finally get into our productive time around midday. We have a few good hours and then have to rest or do paperwork or other less demanding tasks in the later afternoon and evening. We usually cook and eat later in the evening.
The lady who owns the house, however, is a morning person. She works 10am to 4pm at a Starbucks a few days a week. She would prefer to have dinner mid afternoon and is used to retiring around 8pm or earlier. We were working on trying to adjust schedules in a way that could work for everyone but it was a slow process. We are still dealing with stuff in storage, frequent medical appointments, paperwork for Tiffant's disability, a variety of applications for assistance, a lawsuit for an accident where we were rear-ended and Tiffany was hurt, and, of course, all of our physical ailments, pain and limitations. I think we could have worked it out given time but the lady we were living with had very specific (and, in my opinion, unrealistic) ideas about how she thought things would work out and things were apparently not coming together fast enough to meet her expectations.
Last Saturday she told us it was not going to work for her and asked us to move out by the following Saturday. We had already pretty much reached the same conclusion (although we would have given it at least a couple more weeks to try and work things out). At any rate, we were not upset about her decision and we were in the process of packing to move (she had encouraged us to move our things out of storage and into her house so we had quite a lot of stuff there). Everything still seemed to be amicable and we were on track to move out Friday... a day earlier than she had asked... but apparently Patricia was not satisfied with what she apparently perceived to be our slow progress moving... or maybe she was paranoid about having us in the house while she went to work that day. Regardless, for whatever reason, on Monday she called Durham Public Safety and we woke up to police department CARE workers (not cops but professionals trained to respond to domestic calls) knocking on the bedroom door. We had to pack what we could into the van and leave. We got Skyler to a friend's place and came to Chapel Hill for Tiffany's neurology appointment that afternoon.
We had to borrow to get through the last days of the month so when I got my disability check on the 31st, after paying off the loans and paying the essential bills all of our money was immediately gone. We have had to give up making even minimum payments on credit card and loans taken out for previous car repairs. As things stand now, we have no funds for a hotel or even camping. We have slept in the car the last several nights and will be doing that again tonight. On Tuesday we got enough money from Tiffany's parents to buy food and put gas in the van for a few days and for that we are very grateful but that money is also gone now.
We are checking into options in the Triangle area but options are limited, wait lists are long, and the cost of living is very high. The places we had applied to live in Western NC are either badly damaged or no longer exist but we have some good possibilities in the Wilmington area that escaped the flooding and we are hopeful that something will work out there before too long. Please keep us in prayers and send positive energy. I know times are tough for so many of you but, if you can, we would be very grateful if you are able to send even a little money for gas and food. Also, if you are able, we would greatly appreciate help moving the rest of our things out of the house in Durham or the offer of a chance to stop by and get a shower or just sit and share a cup of tea and conversation. Also our van is having major fuel injector issues and is getting terrible gas mileage (and the fumes are awful) so if you were able to donate automotive work or would trade energy work for car repair please message me.
I do not have a place to do Reiki and Shamanic Healing work but will be happy to come to you if you are in the Triangle or in Wilmington and wherever you are I can do distance work.
if you are able to offer financial help I am BlackJaguarSky on Venmo, and Cash App. My old PayPal account had some issues but you can send to my new account at: https://www.paypal.me/OtorongoNoir
In any case, please hold us in the Light and send positive energy/good vibes.
With gratitude,
Blessings Bright and Dark,
William Young &
Tiffany Doudera
