The E Chapter

E lived in Northern California and drove from there across country to north Georgia where I live. She had never driven very far in her eighteen years of life. So we decided I would stay on the phone with her as she made the drive. Thinking about this now some 7 years later, I truly cannot believe I thought this was ok.

I was so lost in my own wounding and loneliness that my critical thinking wasn’t even being aware. I truly thought that I was capable of helping E heal from her life of trauma. I had no clue that I had no clue! I just felt her hurt and sadness and I wanted to help her like others had attempted to help me in my younger years.

E had no business driving cross country. It truly was by the grace of God she made the three day drive without a major event. We did run into some minor issues but managed to get her through them. E had her own healing to do and I want go into her issues for privacy reasons but she had been through the wringer in her short 18 years.

E arrived safely to my house on Maple and we began our years journey living together. I did the best I was capable of as a mother figure at that time. There were many interpersonal conflicts that we had to work through. Even though there were tough times there were many good times. We were both still active on the dating/social media site we met on.

I had never decorated for Halloween so E and myself went all out that year she was here. We hung purple and orange lights on the porch and we made a dungeon scene in my yard with a wood pallet and a red light and a fake hand. We had so much fun for Halloween. We made white chicken chili and ate it on my porch while we waiting for the trick or treaters that never came. Well we might have had a couple of them.

All the friends that I had made on the site got together and planned a birthday dinner celebration for me at my house with E’s help. If my memory serves me right it was the only surprise birthday party I had ever had. We had a great dinner and played games. They even decorated the house for me.

We would go visit A in south Alabama and have get togethers with others from the site. We also had gatherings at my house on Maple. We did a Thanksgiving gathering and had four or five others come besides E and A to all fellowship together. It was like I had my own big family. We did sock slides down my hall on the wood floor and we did nerf gun fights in the yard and house too.

I remember one night S came and met R at the house and I baby sat all the kids while they went out in Atlanta. It seems like E was here but it may have been right before she came. R had a daughter and then S had her three. So I had four young girls that night. They all got in my tub and had a bubble bath. They had so much fun. I enjoyed this so much. As you may or may not know, I have never had my own children or grandchildren.

This was a very enjoyable period of my life during the first year I lived on Maple. I was finding new friends and connections and making a whole new life from the one I had lived prior to my divorce in 2015. It finally seemed like things were settling down from the two years after my divorce. I was excited about how everything was going and I was excited about the future.