My husband John and I have been married for over 17 years, and have been homeless - with or without a vehicle to sleep in - for nearly half our marriage.
We're not stupid. I got my B. A. in philosophy in 1973 and have also had 10 years of study in biology in junior high, high school and college. John was pre-med, and became a Med-Tech when he enlisted in the Air Force during the Viet Nam war.
And we're not lazy either.
We met at the Gospel Rescue Mission in Grants Pass, OR in Oct. 1994, when the Oregon economy was crashing due to the lumber industry crisis. I had lost the job I'd had for five years, and lost my home. John had recently come back from Florida to attend his mother's funeral. With no family to stay with and no job yet, he came to the Mission too.
We married and left the Mission in March '95.
John had gotten a daily-pay job with a landscape contractor, and we moved into a borrowed tent set up in an Oregon State Park on the Rogue River, for $10 a day. When we found out John's boss was dishonest - he'd even cheated the pastor who married us! - John quit, and I agreed with him. We took the wages owed to John in cash and in kind. We now owned all the camping equipment John's boss has loaned us.
Since we could no longer afford the $10/day and didn't own a car, it was "under the cover of dark and into the woods..." We collapsed the tent, piled all the camping gear on it, and carried it 100 yards out of the state park and into the blackberry wilderness lining the river. Using just machetes, and one vine at a time, we cleared an area of about one-eighth an acre and piled the vines high around the clearing as a screen. There we set up our camp. We even cleared a path down to the water's edge - and found the dock of an old homestead. The Rogue River at that
time was pure, clean, fast-running water safe for drinking and bathing.
There was we lived for forty says and forty nights. We subsisted on dumpster fare, duck eggs, and mushrooms. For cash money, we lived on the the nickel deposits for soda and beer containers. We walked an average of seven miles a day, picking up cans, etc., from the roads and from the dumpsters of the state park and three nearby apartment complexes.
Meanwhile, twice a week we walked seven miles to town to do job searches at DES. For a short time, we were on Food Stamps and Oregon Medicaid.
Then finally, in early May '95 we found a job opportunity on a cattle ranch - on Government Island, in the middle of the Columbia River, near Portland. We called the employer, and yes, we could have the job - but only if we could be at the boat dock at 5:30 the next morning!!!
Yeah, us with no car and Portland over 350 miles away.
So at 10:00 AM we got a ride to the on ramp of the I-5 freeway, stuck out our thumbs, and prayed.
Less than a half hour later, a wonderful trucker named Galen picked us up, fed us, paid John $40 to "lump" for him (which means help him unload his truck), let us sleep in his rig overnight in Portland, and delivered us to the boat dock a half-hour ahead of schedule.
Have you noticed that "Galen" and "angel" are anagrams? We did. We kept looking for his wings, but he's good - we couldn't spot them.
We got the job.
Thus began our married life.
Yes, before marriage I worked at a number of jobs. The three main reasons I changed jobs were 1) for higher pay; 2) because the company I worked for went under; or 3) because my job was outsourced by big corporations.
So I took whatever job was available.
I have been (starting in college in 1970), a logic tutor; school bus driver; instructional aide; Fire insurance clerk for BofA; several forms of manufacturing; an electrical assembly crimper, punch press operator (2.5 up to 40 tons),QC inspector, and electrical QC tester using Signature 2000 and 5000; a gas station/convenience store cashier for 5 years (and Assistant Store Manager for 4 of those 5 years). My last jib was as an overnight stocker for Wal Mart. John's last job was Yard Manager for a recycling yard.
My husband and I together have worked as a migrant workers; day laborers at a recycling yard; carnival rider operators; ranch caretakers; orchard caretakers; cement spreaders; ditch diggers; landscapers; worked grape harvest; and many more jobs I can't remember.
Yes, we've used government health when we needed it -- and were poor enough to qualify for it.
“At least once every human should have to run for his life, to teach him that milk does not come from supermarkets, that safety does not come from policemen, that 'news' is not something that happens to other people. He might learn how his ancestors lived and that he himself is no different--in the crunch his life depends on his agility, alertness, and personal resourcefulness.”
"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."
Robert A. Heinlein
Now John has emphysema, diverticulitis, and service-connected Hepatitis C. No VA benefits yet, but he's applied. I'm disabled now too. It took over three years to get it, and now our only income is my SSD.
We always worked when we could. We've earned the benefits we get.
We may not be rich, but we've SURVIVED.
We've been in Prescott, AZ since 1997. We've been homeless here at least six times since then -- including a year spent travelling in Quartzsite, Parker, Lake Havasu, Bullhead City, and Laughlin NV looking for work.
The only vehicle we have is the motor home I bought for us to live in when I got my SSD settlement.
We're set up in a small, cozy, friendly trailer park. Have to unhook from electric and septic just to go to the store for groceries, propane, doctor etc.
Now we're doing okay. All we have to worry about now is the GOP taking it away from us.
Thanks for letting me share.
Below the itzl, a true story, as my husband tells it.
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