A True Labor Day

The repercussions that are a result from the dog attack are weighing heavy on my mind. Some of them are recurring and no surprise, like my dwindling bank account over the summer months, but everything has changed in my mind because I can’t work. It’s a huge worry for me, it’s frustrating, and it makes me feel like I am a failure – on so many levels.

Another thing that bothers me almost daily is about the value of our home. This was a neighborhood we desired to live in, so much that we went door to door with fliers trying to locate a seller. It was 2004 when we did that, and now our home has depreciated over $170,000. The depreciation was only a minor glitch in our minds though; it’s the attack that makes me long to to move now. I am rarely motivated to go out the front door for anything, even grocery shopping. I simply don’t feel safe here.

Our rental home, the house where we lived before we moved here, is currently vacant. There is a property manager, who is supportive, but the tenants were bothering me with phone calls almost concurrent with the time I was diagnosed with PTSD. The tenants didn’t want to move out (the lease was up in July), and despite the fact that we had hired a property manager, that didn’t stop them from pestering me to let them stay – complete with a DVD plea express mailed to my current home.

The tenants were ruining the home, so they had to go, and even though it is another mortgage payment, one I am responsible to pay, the decision to make them move out was a no-brainer. They never told the property manager when they finally did leave, so she filed eviction papers, yet another cost to us.

My husband runs a private accounting firm with a decent client base, but this time of year he is always in debt. His business is really busy during the first quarter of every year. He works is booty off until April 15th every year, and then his income gets leaner and leaner, until Christmas when he has practically nothing but financial debt.

My son is a junior in college. It was my job to pony up the tuition and a monthly allowance for our children to go to college. The great thing was that my son was a transfer student from a community college, but now he is in UC – a much higher price tag. He needs a monthly allowance for gas and food, and that doesn’t take into account the mortgage payment for his housing.

So yesterday, instead of relaxing over the three-day weekend, my husband was putting in a sprinkler system at the rental house. He's been there most of today too. It's a true labor day for him. He is over there worrying because his business was once a family business and he can’t keep my sister working without cutting her hours drastically. He knows he is going to have to work much harder, but we can’t afford not to. Sadly, my parents are no longer behind us, so there is really not much to smile about today.