September 1985
Beth is home from Canada and has gone back to school.
Things aren’t better with Mom. Beth can’t understand all the tension between us. I think it’s hard for her to see what’s happening when Mom is constantly telling her things about me that aren’t true. I noticed even people in our ward are starting to treat me differently and ask me questions that are none of their business. I can only imagine what Mom must be telling them.
Thursday, October 17, 1985
Getting enough sleep is hard because Jared isn’t on a set schedule. At 8:00 pm, Jared had gone down for the night. Richard didn’t have to work tonight, so we decided to go to bed, since we were both tired.
After we had fallen asleep, we heard a knock on our bedroom door. Richard got up to see who it was. It was our Bishop. He said that he needed to talk to both of us.
Richard told him we had gone down for the night and asked him to wait to talk to us. The Bishop made it clear that we needed to talk right now! We got dressed and then let him into our bedroom.
The Bishop then told us we were not to treat my mom the way we were. I tried to tell him how things really were, but he would not listen. After he had scolded us, he left.
I felt violated and humiliated! We tried to go back to sleep, but it took a while since we were both upset about what had happened. When I finally fell asleep again, Jared woke up.
Saturday, November 2, 1985
It was the beginning of the month, so Mom and Richard sat down to review last month’s utilities, just as they always did. Then they each pay half.
This time, Mom said she wasn’t going to pay half the utilities because she was a single mother who was trying to support Beth. She reasoned that she should pay only half the mortgage because Richard, the baby, and I were now 3 people living in the house, and Richard was working 2 jobs. Therefore, it didn’t seem fair that she should keep paying for half the utilities.
Richard tried to reason with her, telling her this was not what we had agreed on when we had bought the house together. But once mom’s mind was made up about something, there was no reasoning with her, and her way was the only way!
It ended with Mom saying she would find an apartment for her and Beth and would no longer pay half the mortgage.
After realizing we were stuck with the full mortgage and all the utilities, I told Richard I would start babysitting so we could afford the house.
Sunday, November 3, 1985
I loved spending time with Jared. It was exciting to see how much he was changing with each new day. He was my world!
Sunday, November 24, 1985
Mom hasn’t found an apartment and is making sure to make our lives a living hell!
This week, after Mom came home from work and had dinner with Beth, she started washing the dishes. She had filled the sink with the dishes and put in plenty of dish soap, but then it looked like she had changed her mind and just left them. I knew I’d better get them done so that Mom wouldn’t start a fight.
As I was doing them, I noticed there was broken glass at the bottom of the water. I was shocked to see it and felt lucky I hadn’t cut my fingers on it. I hurried, emptied the water, cleared away the broken glass, and then proceeded to the dishes. I never said a word about it, because I knew it would just start a fight. Instead, I realized I had to be extra careful because I didn’t know what she might think of next.
This morning, when I got up and got ready for church, Mom handed me a note. It said we needed to give her $5,000.00 to buy her out of the house, and then she would find an apartment for her and Beth. She knows we don’t have that kind of money!
It’s clear Mom is trying to get us to move out, and she has no intention of giving us $5,000.00 to buy us out. Knowing Mom, she has already or will talk to the Bishop about the church paying for half, if not all, of the mortgage and the utilities.
Richard and I were ready for church. But after reading the note, I told Richard we needed to find a place to live. I told him my ulcer was acting up and getting worse every day. I also told him about the broken glass, and I was worried about what she would think of next.
Instead of going to church, we stayed home to look for a place to live.
Richard knew his parents had a trailer where his sister Janet was living. Janet didn’t have a job and therefore couldn’t pay rent. Richard called his parents and asked if we could move into the trailer.
Richard’s parents were more than happy to have us live there since we could pay rent. Janet ended up moving back home with their parents.
We got hold of some boxes and began packing our belongings.
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