The thought of two of them in that bare apartment brings back some fond memories of my first apartment. It's very sweet because I was so young and naive and so very (very) broke. It was an age of innocence that warms my heart when I look back on it.
It was a 2 bed/1 bath apartment in Millington, and (with my birth year forged by one digit), I was able to move in at the tender age of...seventeen. Yup, seventeen.
My kitchen was decorated in (heaven help me) cows and red/white checker print. My poor living room didn't have a solitary thing in it. There was no kitchen table, no furnishings to the spare bedroom. I had a single twin size bed and a cardboard (yes, cardboard) dresser. I remember that the first thing I bought was a set of very cheap pots and pans. And I just began collecting, adding one thing at a time until my little apartment became my home.
I was working at Taco Bell at the time and didn't make nearly enough money to afford the place, but I thought I'd have the help of a roommate when I moved in. It wasn't a week or two in that she bailed, and I realized I'd bitten off more than I could chew, so I worked HARD, 40 hours a week minimum, left school and concentrated on paying bills. I am proud to say I did all this without a dime from anyone: not my family, not the government, not a charitable organization. I prioritized and survived.
It took every bit of my paycheck to pay my rent and utility bill. I didn't have a home phone, a cell phone, cable, Internet or a car. I walked to work (even pregnant, even in the snow pregnant) and back home. I worked until I was 42 weeks pregnant, up to and including the very day they induced me. I had my daughter on a Tuesday and was back at work on Saturday, the kiddo in an infant seat in Taco Bell's management office, door propped open. Maternity leave is a luxury. Child care is a luxury. Most people don't realize that.
Even though it was a very tough time in my life, I look back on it with great fondness. I really pulled through a difficult time, sanity in check. When I tell Kiera about these early years, she is in awe of my perseverance, and I know I'm instilling some of that in her. No, I didn't make all the right choices as a teenager, but I handled the choices I did make with integrity and followed through with my head held high.
She knows defeat is not an option. No matter how hard things get, they are only temporary.
You prioritize. You survive.
You repeat as necessary.
