Days 8 & 9

Day 08 → Someone who made your life hell, or treated you like shit.

I have to say most recently this was the tenant I rented my house to when we moved to Virginia. She was someone I considered my friend and I got burned. I know she's had a really difficult time and made some really crappy decisions. I truly wanted to help her and it bit in the you know where.

The thing is I don't think she realizes how much she screwed me. I lost my house over it. See the deal was she could pay WAY under market value to rent my house so she could get out of a crappy living situation and our house wouldn't sit empty. We also had our beloved lab, Cole, who needed a place to stay. Seemed perfect...we'd leave, she'd move in...she'd take care of Cole and the house and pay us about 1/2 of what the market value was. We also were able to store things at the house...a win/win for everyone.

Several weeks into the deal, she called at her wits end about Cole. She wasn't a dog person and he was misbehaving. I'm on the fence about this because Cole was NEVER a behavior issue. Now, giving her the benefit of the doubt, maybe our leaving and his living in the same place with new folks and new stuff was tough on him. An angel friend rescues Cole so now the dog was out of the equation.

The year went by by somewhat uneventfully until the end when she stopped paying rent. I realize that she had medical issues and ex-husband didn't pay child support but I HAD to pay the mortgage and when she didn't pay I couldn't. We ended up putting the house on the market to short sale and she lived for 4 months in the house and didn't pay rent. STILL...we are out that money...a couple of thousand dollars...that we can't spare. It went south so quick and I will never be a land lord again. I can't handle the stress!

Day 09 → Someone you didn’t want to let go, but just drifted.

This is an easy one. My brother Chris. He is not my biological brother, but he is my brother in my heart and he lived with my family for about 6 years of his life. He considers us his family and the feeling is mutual. Anyway, Christmas of 1995, he was a young adult and showed up out of the blue. We were thrilled to have him but gently reminded him we needed some notice. When he blew out on Christmas Day before dinner, Mom was upset. He drove our of lives that day and we had no contact with him for 13 years! I searched on the Internet and had Hub do some semi-professional searching when he was a PI. No luck. Finally in May of 1998, I tracked down a gaming website he was involved in and sent an email with my cell phone and he called! I'm so grateful to have him back in my life. We missed a lot of big events over those 13 years...weddings, births, etc...but not ever again!

Chris and I in 1989