Amber's Abode

I'm moving!

Well, it's another example of a phone call changing my life.

The place where I really wanted to live, where I have been waiting on the waiting list here for a year and a half called me a few days after telling me that I was top of the list.  This time they told me that I was too much work, basically, to live in an assisted living facility.  I was very discouraged.  So last weekend, my brother-in-law and sister that live in a suburb across town began to look around for possible adult foster homes with openings there, because the team on the side was not finding any.  They found five over there.  So I went to tour them.  Four of them really sucked.

The fifth one was a nice house, light and airy, with happy residents, animals, and a real family feel.  The person that was giving the tour, Chris, really liked me, and she said it was obviously meant to be because the person who was supposed to come around that time did not show up at all.  So she said I could have the room if I wanted it.

So I spent the next couple of days thinking about it.  It's in a location that I did not really want, and the room where I will sleep is small, about 12 x 12.  But that's really not much smaller than the corner I live in right now, and it will be my own.  And I will get better care, because there are only five residents, as opposed to 65.  The food will be better.  I will get more money, and I won't have to pay for anything.  Free cable TV and Internet.  And my family wants to keep paying my phone bill.  $146 as opposed to $30.  And they really want me there.  And the rest of the house is big, and I'm welcome anywhere I can get to, and everyone loves me.  It is also near transportation, it was a necessity to have that.

The downside is pretty much made of the location and the small size of the room.  It's near a light rail stop but I'm basically moving from one end of the line to the other, so it's a commute anywhere.  Also, even though there are always people up waiting, I don't think I will be able to go out as much, at least in the beginning.  I plan to talk to them about it after laying low for a couple weeks to figure out their schedule and respect it.  I just don't want to have to stop being able to be open about how I am becoming my own person, i.e.  queer, and there are no hangout spots for us in that location.  Also, both of my sisters and their husbands will be in that area within a year, which is kind of a good thing and a bad thing.  I don't want my whole life reduced to a TV schedule, or I might as well have stayed here.  But I don't think I'll let that happen.

And basically, I'm not healthy here because of the lack of good care, good food and sleep.  So in the end I had to make the choice to move for my health.  But Chris knows a lot about the system and she promises that if this place is not the best for me, she will help me find one that is.

So I am leaving this place I call Sunny Pastures a week from tomorrow.  I'm excited, scared and a little sad at the same time, which is normal for any change.  I will keep those who need it updated with my new contact info.

I may not be writing in here for a while because we have to figure out how to fit everything into my little space.  Maybe time to invest in another laptop.  Really wish I hadn't gotten sick all over my first one.  If anybody has one they wish to donate, let me know.  Smile.  I'm also planning on using some of my new money to invest in a cell phone, finally. 

Wish me luck.  Catch you on the other side.

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