I am a 50-something disabled woman, with a life of poverty and pain. However, I try to see the humor in what is happening to me, and to other people. I live in public housing with my service dog, Friday, and have a boyfriend herein referred to as The Boyo. I am a Pagan goddess whose body has been compared to the Venus of Willendorf. For all my bitching, (and you’ll find I do a lot of it) I think I am really lucky to have what I do. I get around most of the time with a walker and a scooter named Epona, which my father (may the goddess bless him) bought me.
Seriously, though, since I mostly write seriously, my background is as a nurse. I have a Master’s in Nursing Administration. At present I am not able to work due to depression, arthritis, fibromyalgia and chronic myofascial pain. Due to poor choice of marriage partners, I am also very poor, living on the $339 a month plus $38.66 service dog stipend the great State of Washington gives me. I live in a public housing project, have food stamps, etc. Thus I have the background to understand the financial things that are happening to the safety net, but I also know first hand what the effects are.
Since the above was written, I have gotten approved for SSDI, and now live on the munificent sum of $1424/mo. Strangely, I was better off living on $339 and food stamps. Now my insurance premiums and co-pays for Medicare take about a quarter of my income. All my money is fungible, which means there is no portion automatically set aside for food. I am too rich to qualify for the free vet clinic, and too poor to pay a real vet. Friday and I both suffer. But it sure was fun spending the “crazy money” as folks call the lump sums we get when we finally get approved. And yes, I did save some of it, but a quite a bit of it went to my lawyer, and to the state for supporting me for three years.
