In The Beginning

Checking: $1.30
Savings: $ .22

Those were the stark facts that I faced this morning. Though my bank accounts are bare and I live in a house in drastic need of repair, something changed. Being that I have not won the lottery and I still live well below the federal poverty level, I can only attribute the change as an inner change.. a change in attitude.

After all, my house is still in nightmarish condition. I've lived two years now without a working kitchen other than a refrigerator, microwave, and electric skillet. At this time, I don't even have a single working sink in the house.

This is not a sob story. This blog is my way of getting honest about how I got here and encouraging myself to move forward. I need to examine the causes of poverty in my life and make the changes that I need to make. I have long had this image of myself as being not necessarily wealthy, but comfortable.

My life is not comfortable. Utility shutoffs and car repossession is not comfortable. Unemployment due to disability is not comfortable. Having your son say that he wants to get a job as soon as he is old enough so he can give you money is not comfortable. Too many people are living uncomfortable lives in poverty in the United States.

At this time when so many people are finding themselves in poverty in America, perhaps my journey to a better life can also inspire others to hang in there and move forward. Writing this publicly is not easy, but I feel the need to document my path from poverty.

-Sheila