After my divorce from Dennis, I could not afford my apartment, I had nowhere to go. So I had to make the hard decision to go to a homeless shelter. The girls had gone to see Dennis family in California for the summer. So it made it easier for me to pack up our stuff and put it in storage.
I picked the girls up from the airport on August 1, 2006, and the next day we were going to a homeless shelter. The HARDEST thing for me to do was go through their stuff from California to decide what to take and what to put in storage. All they wanted to do was show me all the cool stuff they got including the things from Disneyland. My girls had literally gone to Disneyland and I was now taking them to a homeless shelter. I felt like the worse mom ever. I also knew I was doing the best thing I could with what I had.
I was so afraid to take my 7 & 9-year-old daughters into a homeless shelter. I had heard horror stories of the things that happened to children in homeless shelters. I just prayed to GOD that we would be protected and no harm would happen.
We got to the homeless shelter and they had it set up that there was no interaction between the men that stayed there and the families. That gave me somewhat of a relief. We stayed at the first shelter for about a week. We went to another shelter that was specifically for women and children. We were there for about 90 days. There were definitely some hard times. We celebrated Lilies 8th birthday in there. That was hard but we made the most of it. There was a night
Because I worked during the day we would get back late for dinner. Our dinner was supposed to be saved for us to eat. There was a night that I go to get the food out of the refrigerator and there was nothing but some mac and cheese and salad. Someone hate eaten the chicken. That was my rock bottom moment. I let my girls eat the food and I had just a little bit of salad. That rock bottom moment was my fuel to better myself and get out of the shelter.
The shelter was also a bonding time for me and the girls. Because we only had each other. We had to get up at 5 am to walk to the bus stop each morning. And we would not get back to the shelter until after 8 pm. That was our routine for over 5 months. It sounds crazy but I am grateful to have those hard times because it made me stronger and it put life into perspective. Anytime I have hard times now I reflect back on the shelter days. I then realize if I can make it through the shelter I can make it through anything. Much Love. Take Care.
