<div>Hey yall. I know I introduced myself the other day, but I wanted to get back on here and share how I got here and why this means so much to me. ♥️ 

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<div>I’ve lived in Washington for most of my life, but there was a while where I lived in CA, because my grandparents had just moved there and my mom wanted to be closer to her parents. 

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<div>My mom had decided to move back to Washington for better opportunities, and I was going through a tough time. Dealing with DV with a baby and while being pregnant. About a month after my mom left, I was talking to my partner at the time about missing her and wanting to see her, this didn’t go over well. We lived in a tiny town and everything was about 30 minute away. So we are on our way to Walmart to go get diapers, he wouldn’t let it go and our conversation continued and he got angrier and angrier, to the point that while I was driving he grabbed the steering wheel and tried to make us crash, telling me I couldn’t leave him if I was dead. I barely made it to Walmart and hid in the bathroom while I called 911. I moved back to Washington a week later. This was in 2017, so I had a 10 month old and was pregnant.

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<div>Now it’s 2019, I live in Olympia, I meet someone, things are going well, and then we move in together and things go from 0-100. This time I got out early. I packed my stuff and ended up going to a shelter while he was at work. That’s how I made it to Shelton. I got into a housing program, and got my own apartment. And then Covid happened. Luckily I was still working and was able to stay in my apartment. 

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<div>2021 my apartment complex got new owners and all the tenants got a letter saying that rent was going up. Ok, I could figure that out that would be doable. And it was, until 2022 they decided that because they had to try and recoup losses from Covid and raised the rent again. At that point I had tried getting assistance, but because of Covid all that funding was gone and I had a pay or vacate letter taped to my door in December of that year. 

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<div>2023 I was able to find a tiny house that someone was renting and I thought that that was it, until I chose to get a different place, it worked for us. But then again in December of 2024, someone in their family had an emergency and needed consistent help and to be closer to those who could assist them that I was asked to leave so they could move them in. 

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<div>We slept in the car.

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<div>As luck would have it, early in 2025 I was put into contact with a family member who also lives in Shelton, with his girlfriend and her two sons. (24 &amp; 27) until earlier this month I was told they are starting a business and needed the room that the kids and I were in by mid November. Great, that gives me a month to find a place. I can do that. And then we have a meeting regarding an incident. 

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<div>— The “incident” was that I was in the shower, getting ready for work and one of her sons woke up late (usually he was gone by this time) and needed to brush his teeth. So he starts banging on the bathroom door yelling at me that he needs to get in the bathroom. I told him I was almost done and would be out in a minute, but he couldn’t wait and continued to yell. He woke everyone up doing this and by the time I made it back to our room, paisley was in tears because she was scared because of the yelling and didn’t know where I was or what was going on. — 

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<div>So at the meeting this was brought up and I was told that if she or her sons have to work and need the bathroom that me/ or the kids need to get out of the bathroom, that they take priority. So I asked her, what if I’m getting ready for work, she said again, they take priority and that I need to be conferring with them on when I can shower. But he was running late, so even if I had talked to them about it this still would have happened. 

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<div>I understand that I am renting space in someone else’s house and that there is a level of courtesy required for that kind of situation, but I was the only one showing courtesy, I shared my food and let them know when I would be going out, I knocked, and didn’t let the kids run in the house, I did dishes and things that you just kind of accept need to be done when sharing spaces, but none of that was reciprocated to me. And I let it go in those moments because it wasn’t my house. So during this meeting when she asked how I felt things were going, that’s what I told her. Two days later, I was told she couldn’t get past what I had said and I needed to be out by the end of the weekend. So I packed my stuff and th kids into the car and we left. That night, Brooklyn called. And here we are.

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Anonymous

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