Last week, Christopher moved out of the house leaving Rory and I with no food and suddenly cut-off without warning of money (including the automatic deposit that went straight to my account every two weeks). This threw me into a whirlwind of trying to figure out what I needed to do in order to feed my child, NOW.
I found myself filing a case at Child Support Services for Child Support, and also doing court paperwork and filing for Spousal Support, (we had a long-term marriage of 23-1/2-years). These were not only time consuming, stressful, and not fun, but they also ate up my gas that I had so precious little of in my truck.
Child Support Services and the Court told me that I needed to file for a food program, as immediate need was required. After driving to the location to fill out more paperwork, I spoke with a man at the service window who told me it would be a 4-hour wait to see someone and get the paperwork started, OR I could go home and do it online. Why don’t they tell you that little tidbit over the phone?! Needless to say, I climbed back in the truck and high-tailed it home to spend about 5 more grueling hours gathering even more documentation and filling out yet another application. Of course, by the time I was finished, it was past 5 pm, so my application would not be looked at until the following business day. Thank God, it was Thursday night.
Friday morning I received a phone call at 10:15 AM telling me that I had an appointment at 1 PM to go over my application, and oh, by the way, you need to bring along additional documentation. I sped around the house going through files, raced to two banks, made phone calls, borrowed some money from a friend for gas, and flew out of the house for my 30-mile drive to my appointment. Phew…
I had to have a face-to-face interview so the lady on the other side of the desk could ask me questions that I had already answered on the online application. She took copies of my additional information, fingerprinted me, handed me a card with $200 on it, and sent me on my way home–four hours later in the height of rush-hour traffic in Southern California…oh yeah…
The good news was that I received some much-needed aid for Rory and me. The bad news for Christopher, at any rate, is that he will be responsible for paying it back (they will even garnish his wages if he does not).
Hopefully, this week will be less stressful. I have another appointment on Thursday with my new divorce attorney where she will help me file an amendment to my Response.
I would love to hear any tips on getting through this stuff with your sanity intact. I think the key for me right now is to remember to smile and laugh. Being down and depressed isn’t going to help anything.
Luke took me out Saturday night for Karaoke. We had a great dinner, I sang 5 songs, had lots of laughs, and the Cadillac Margarita really hit the spot after the week I’d had. Thanks, honey!
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~Lorelai
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Contact Lorelai at Lorelai@LifeWithLorelai.com
I guess Spider hunting is always a stress reliever!!!!
Hahaha… Yes, it was quite funny!
Stay strong!
Strong and Sassy, Katie! 😉