The first weekend

Stayiing in someone else's home is very stressful. Carol and Jerry hadn't recovered from their 50th wedding anniversary the week before. All of their family from out of town had come including their three children, grandchildren, siblings, cousins and one uncle. At the actual party there were over 70 people.

So my showing up with dog in tow only 5 days later was pretty tough on Carol who was dealing with something that looked a lot like fibromyalgia. I could see she was really tired and helped as much as I could, but it seemed like everytime she would say she was going to rest, we would end up in deep conversation.

Besides the uncertainty of my situation, both Ben and I were afraid that at any time Leonard would do the same thing to Ben. He was avoiding talking to his dad as much as possible because Ben knew it would turn into a heated argument. He was constantly afraid his dad would call the police on him and kept a bag packed just in case.

On Sunday I called Peter to ask if Ben could stay with him in Tubac, but Pete said it wasn't a good time. We just had to bide our time until Tuesday when the Green Valley Justice Court would be open. Tuesday morning came and I was feeling upbeat, anxious to "have my day in court". I told Carol I was determined to be out of he house asap.

The people at the court were very nice and efficient. They gave me the form for my answer to Leonard's petition and helped my fill it out. Then they gave me my court date. July 15th. Ten days away. I sat there and then said "That's a long time to be homeless". All the lady could do was nod.

The court was only a few blocks from Carol and Jerry's place and on the way back was when I finally broke down, I pulled the car over to the side of the road and sobbed.