house hunting on a budget

so, i’ll get back to our story eventually–or not.  long story short, i wrapped up my end of things in NJ, and made it here to ohio to live with this friend i met online and met once in person.  nothing new or strange there, right?

part of the motivation was to combine our modest resources and be able to survive going forward, which neither of us could have done on our own.  especially once she was forced to resign and retire too early due to transphobia, a common attitude here in ohio.

so here we find ourselves, prematurely retired on a tiny fixed income, including my even more reduced s.s. benefit since i had to take it too early.  again, nothing new or unusual about that; many older (and not-so-older) people in this country find themselves in this predicament, having worked long and hard all or much of their lives.  not complaining, just stating the facts.

so, house-hunting later in life, even in an affordable place like east TN, is challenging.  personally, i had never even considered buying as a possibility, until circumstances changed.  i’m so fortunate that my new friend became as motivated and enthused as i to move somewhere near my son and family, and away from this benighted place.  her own ignorant family had cruelly cut her off from her own grandchildren, so having a new adoptive family who accept her is like a new lease on life.

anyway, finding a house that the VA (she was in the AF) will finance (i.e. not a rundown mobile home) on our small income is challenging, as i said.  we don’t require much—just a tiny house that’ works’, on some land away from town that affords us some privacy and garden space, not extremely far from the family.

it would be simpler if my friend’s health insurance would finally get their act together to reimburse her huge surgical bills as promised, but once again transphobic ignorance throws a wrench in the works and drags out the process as long as possible.  so we’re left in the lurch, waiting on bureaucratic confusion, so we can finally finish out old business and move on.  the story of her life.

but we try to remain optimistic about our new life going forward.  and so as not to get too serious, here are more photos of where we hope to be.

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