Since we had to vacate our rental place May 1st, Susan and I are currently living in the basement of our friends' place up the street while Malcolm and our cat Charlie are staying with my parents in their rental over by the University of WA. This is because our new house won't be ready even for 'unofficial' occupancy before June 5th when our furniture is finally delivered (after nearly a year!) from the shipment from Denmark.
This admittedly-complex living arrangement has given us a little taste of what it must be like to be homeless. Of course we're "well-off homeless" which means not actually homeless at all, but some of the patterns are recognizable: The constant disorganization and inability to keep things in a set place, inability to have meals together at appointed times (I pick Malcolm up in the mornings then to school, while Susan picks him up and takes him to my parents' place in the evenings), stuff strewn about the car. I've taken to just keeping things in my computer pack for work just so I know where to find them.
It is a bit nerve-wracking, and tiring, not least upon poor Malcolm. The novelty of having a "sleepover" with Grandma and Granddad has worn off and now he wonders why he can't just stay with us. The reality is that there isn't really room for three of us down there, our friends' generosity notwithstanding, and he's better off staying with my parents for a few weeks until things sort themselves out. We do bring him over here w/us on weekends though.
We're probably going to squat in the new house before everything is done, just so we can be together again. June 5th can't come soon enough. It is upsetting.
At the least it has given us a feel for what it would be like to be truly without a place to live, just bumming a place to sleep where you can. it would be tough to live like that for any length of time, and doubly so with kids.
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