Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Update of major proportions. May the Fourth Be With You!

Okay so first, the bad news.
The last twenty four hours have been a roller coaster of worry and grief.
Dan, (Amber's ex) had an argument with his fiancee Lisabet on May 3 around 5 ish. He stormed out of the house grabbing his bottle of Xanax and some water and told her 'Tell the kids I love them'. Disappeared and walked off.
They live in the middle of nowhere in Cloudcroft, New Mexico. No car and no friends, neighbors are not close either.
I am finding out about this second hand through Amber who was called by Lisabet. The local sherrifs were using GPS to try and locate him but it was severely flawed and no sign of him by dark.
They found him in the morning finally, barely responsive and they rushed him to the ER. He had hypothermia and showed signs of overdose from the meds.
As of writing this now, he is in ICU, it is suspected he took about 100 Xanax and about the same number of Tramadol. Last report is he is responding when his name is called and can squeeze someone's finger on request. No talking as yet. He's alive, running a low fever which could be from the hypothermia, but so far is hanging on a thread.
Backstory on this is he has been out of work, has been dealing with cluster headaches and they were planning on getting married in June. We (amber and I) don't know what the argument was about, but Amber has told Lisabet that no matter the outcome with Dan, the kids need to come back to San Diego. If Dan survives, he and Lisabet need to come back as well.
(Originally he went there because his older sister was there and offered to put them up for a while. Not long after, she went over the edge somehow and kicked them out so no contact with her. They found a place of their own and were surviving on the little income Lisabet had as well as support money from Amber.)
Ava was supposed to come out here after the wedding to spend a few weeks with Amber and us, for vacation. Now it looks like that may or may not happen, but somehow they will all end up back in San Diego before the end of the Summer.
Amber has one offer of helping out when the kids do come back of living with a friend of hers. I also offered (after mentioning it to Katie) to possibly have Ava live with us since we'll be in Mira Mesa and have better schools there.
So, (deep breath) that's basically what's happened in the last twenty four hours. All hell breaks loose and there's nothing we can do about it except hang on, pray as we need to and hope for the best outcome no matter what.

Now the other news:
For the first time in the last, I don't know, ten or twelve years of being in San Diego I am moving to a new place on my own terms.
The last four places I've lived I was evicted or moved because I couldn't pay rent. This time, Katie and I were offered to rent a dual master bedroom condo from a family friend of hers. The rent will be about the same given the rent hike on the new lease papers that were given us. New place has air conditioning, washer and dryer, dedicated water heater and a balcony that's screened off with a kitty door for Crook. A few personal touches from the previous owner makes it even nicer. Hardwood floors everywhere but the bedrooms and kitchen I think. Rugs will be happening in the main traffic areas of course. The square footage is about the same just  a different orientation. It looks smaller than our current place but since the bedrooms are the same size, that accounts for some of the space.
To paraphrase from a sci fi show, 'Mira Mesa, never thought I would be going back there.'

Downside for me, it's in Mira Mesa. We're in Clairemont currently and taking the bus to work is easy. Half a block walk to the bus stop and a twenty minute ride or so to work. New location doubles my commute time to both my jobs.  On the other hand, it cuts Katie's commute time way down. She's thirty some miles from work now and will be about eight miles since she works in Rancho Bernardo.
Oh I checked the bus route to the Poway location of the nursery and it is actually worse than I thought but its still an option. There is not direct bus even close to that location, but will be looking into car pooling either with Katie or a coworker if anyone lives in Mira Mesa.
The plus side also is, I have managed to hold out $2000 still from taxes and vacation money to cover the costs of moving and taking a week and a half off to move. I have spent a little more money on going out to eat than usual, but other than that I haven't touched what's in my savings account until this month to pitch in my usual money for rent. I get paid this first week of May from both jobs so everything is covered.
It certainly feels odd and exciting to not worry about being paycheck to paycheck and negative for a change. I'm feeling downright wealthy but have not let it go to my head. I could have looked at getting a car, could have bought some other things but I didn't. I am finally adulting!
It's a pain packing and moving but it's giving us a chance to clear out old furniture and items and get some new stuff. We've been rooming for six years together! That's the longest I've ever stayed in one place since coming to San Diego.
I never thought I would find a roommate and friend as fun as Katie. We're soulmates of sorts I suppose. I need a few things to work on as I always do, she's got a few issues but for the most part, we are a pair of the most compatible people I have encountered.

Can't say that's my life in a nutshell, unless you're talking prehistoric sized coconuts the size of an elephant.


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