Now that Tammie and Camren were here to stay, my mom used the excuse that we needed a bigger home to move us to the trailer. But the truth was, Ashley (another sister), my mom's biological daughter, was boy crazy. Ashley couldn't stay away from the neighborhood boys. She wasn't quite thirteen when my mom realized all the trouble Ashley was getting into. My mom had to cancel Ashley's thirteenth birthday party, because of the horrible decisions she was making. It didn't matter what Ashley was doing, she was still mom's favorite.
The trailer was located 12 miles south of our house on Lilac, a 30 minute drive outside of the city limits. It was in the boonies. My mom thought it would keep Ashley away from the boys. She was wrong... Us four girls thought the trailer was going to be great! It was tan with dark brown trim, had four bedrooms, three bathrooms, and an extra living room for us! It was huge, but it was falling apart... We had amazing family that helped with the main issues, so we could go ahead and move in.
Our step dad (I call him this because he was with my mom for as long as I could remember) moved to the trailer with us, but it didn't last long. I don't think he stayed more than three years. Ashley was hard on mom's relationship with him. Again, because Ashley was mom's favorite. Ashley called CPS on our mom (for no other reason than being a bratty teenager) and we had to leave home that night. The police were at the trailer. It was the first and last time I EVER sat in the back of a police car. When I came back home, our step dad was moving out. Mom chose Ashley over our step dad, which was no surprise. Women should chose their children over "boyfriends", but my mom was with him for seven years and Ashley didn't like him because he disciplined her. She didn't like being told what to do, hell my mom didn't know what the word discipline meant. Someone needed to give Ashley consequences for her actions.
We were already struggling financially, so when he moved out it only got worse. We didn't have a car for the longest time. Luckily, my dad did have a good side (I guess
when he was sober) and he provided us with a white truck until my mom could afford to get a car. My sisters moved out and I was left in the trailer alone with my mom. She worked three jobs just to pay the bills. I never really saw her, or so it seemed. She never had "extra money". When things broke, they just didn't get fixed. The roof would leak and we put our kitchen pots out to catch the rain, because if it hit the floor then the floor would get too wet and cave in. There were already several holes in the floor. We had stray cats, possums, and even porcupines making their way in our house. We tried covering the holes with rugs, The rugs were supposed to be a temporary fix, but it turned more into our permanent fix.
We had many months of unpaid bills. The electricity being out was the absolute worst because the trailer had a well. If we didn't have electricity, we didn't have water. I'm not sure how many times I arrived to school early to use the showers in the locker room. It just became my normal. There was no point in getting upset with my mom or complaining about bills going unpaid. Deep down I knew my mom was doing the best she could. At the end of the day, I was loved, and I had a roof over my head. I was still more blessed than others in the world. Today, I am thankful for the trailer.
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