When I Faced A Challenge and Overcame It — Day 6

Do I have to pick just one? Well, I mean this is my prompt response, so not really…

Back on Dr. Tracy Davis’ writing challenge after a day off. I saw the next prompt when I finished Day 5. I knew it wouldn’t be hard to come up with a challenge I’ve faced in life and have had to overcome. My recent life has been nothing but challenges I’ve faced and had to overcome.

You could look back at the recent past when we were asked to leave the travel center despite there being no signs posted other than customer parking only. We had been adhering to every single day and even though we did stay a total of almost 4 months minus a couple of weeks in between, we still had every right to continue being there until we were ready to leave.

We had to overcome that and change our strategy for parking our truck and traveling to different travel centers and finding alternatives so that it didn’t look like we couldn’t move our vehicle.

Before that, in February, we got kicked out of the motel we were staying in for 16 months over absolute horseshit. We never broke any rules and never caused any noise or trouble for anyone. We had just gotten over our first stint with COVID and we had to move on. We left and that’s when we decided to drive from one travel center to the other until we landed at one we liked going back to the previously stated obstacle that came later.

The reason we even had to consider either a long-term motel or our truck in the first place was a string of bad landlords and crappy living situations and being constantly taken advantage of. Recently, I found out that the very same neighborhood that we were paying $1200 a month in for an illegal garden apartment with no street access and only one door out that got flooded was in an area that had apartments that were going for around $600 a month.

Finding out that we were ripped off in Chicago and that’s what ultimately caused us to leave four years ago really angers me thinking about it now. When we got to Erie, we paid $500 a month for an apartment that had no bathroom for nearly six months. We had to go to extreme measures to get it addressed, fixed, and ultimately were forced out during the beginning of the pandemic. But we had no other choice but to continue on and overcome and face these challenges both times.

This is when Mike and I ultimately figured out that we weren’t going to live at anybody’s rental anymore. That’s when he used his remaining strength, ingenuity, and our combined resources at the time to get us out of a bad situation. We’ve gotten ourselves out of and away from bad situations consistently over the last five years.

We are strong, resourceful, and smart. Even though we’ve both got serious physical issues and ailments, we have found a way of life that will make it easier for us to get by. The way we’ve overcome and faced life’s challenges as they come is a bit inspiring. I never thought that when I lived in California and worked for Verizon Wireless, I could ever be so resilient. I guess you never know until you’re tested.

We will continue to face future challenges and find sensible solutions to them when the time comes. We chose to live in a mobile tiny home and even though there are unique challenges to our decision, it’s much better to deal with those than to continue to be stuck in a situation that would likely endanger our lives.

Mike could’ve died the day in Chicago when the snow melted and flooded our apartment. The floors were solid tile and he woke up to the rush of water. There were electrical appliances plugged in that could’ve zapped him when he stood in the water.

He had no idea what was going to happen when he got up and his head and back hit the tile. I was at work at the time and didn’t know what had happened until I got back. It was a very scary experience but one that started our whole thought process in the direction of getting ourselves in a more safe and less life-threatening situation.

Day 5: