Rats of Dreams

What you don't know is this is a true story. I am sure you will think it's been dramatized for your pleasure. But this is the God awful truth. As I am thinking and typing my hands are shaking, I am sick to my stomach, and feeling so powerless and alone. I use to have hope, but it's gone. There are no pretty words to paint you a pretty picture. All of the good memories have slowly disappeared and despair has taken over. Here is a flat history of what has occurred to have me feeling this way. A summary of journal entries, you might say, showing a snapshot of a life that might look a lot like yours.

In 1997 my husband and I bought a mobile home to raise our 3 children. When we made this purchase it was in a small rural neighborhood with not many homes. The last 23 years have been dedicated to hard work, raising children, managing health issues, and dealing with a hurricane that damaged many homes including ours. We had our ups and downs, our peaks and valleys. Little did we know that our peaks would be demolished leaving only the valleys. There is no way to climb back up now.

In early 2000 a homeowners association (H.O.A) mysteriously popped up. People were excited because they were hoping to asphalt our dirt roads. The main road was already paved but this was an opportunity to finally have reals roads in the rest of the neighborhood. As neighbors started sending in membership dues they noticed nothing was happening or getting done. Eventually someone discovered the H.O.A was not licensed and the money they sent was stolen! Our household was lucky. Raising 3 children is expensive, we did not see it was a mandatory membership so we never paid the nearly $2000 bill sent to us. Many if our neighbors were not so lucky.

As the years flew by we watched one child after another graduate. My last one was on a hard path to graduation when my husband and I took in another child who was abandoned by her parents while she was a sophomore in high school. We were struggling but happy. Living a normal life.

Then Hurricane Hermine hit in 2016. We heard a tree hit the roof and watched as water started pouring out the ceiling lights and drip down our walls. It was sudden and horrible. I don't have the words to describe the feelings of seeing our home destroyed. As we came out to the light of day, many homes in our area had trees on houses, in yards, and streets. It changed many lives.

In the midst of trying to recover, Hurricane Michael hit in 2017. People were still on waiting lists for contractors or/or receiving insurance funds for Hurricane Hermine when this second storm came in. Blue tarps were everywhere but there was no visions of ever getting back to normal. People were still living under those blue tarps but the environment caused mold and complications as they waited for work to be done that never happened. There are still empty, damaged homes in the neighborhood today.

After fighting so hard to keep our home and finances in tact, after the hurricanes, we are proud to say all of our children were have now graduated and off to other opportunities. It was a now time for a new phase in our lives to pay down expenses from home repair, schooling, cars, medical bills and other costs of living. Were my husband and I stressed? Hell, yes! But we kept on going with our dreams of being debt free and hoping for grandchildren one day.

In September 2019 my husband became very ill. On a second visit to the emergency room the doctor had bad news and said he may have MRSA. None of the antibiotics they were using was getting rid of the infection and he could die. They continued to use different antibiotics and he got lucky, They finally found one that started working. During this time he was out of work with no disability benefits and I received approval from my boss for overtime. This helped our financial distress but we were still facing large medical bills along with the prospect of him being out of work for a long time. But I worked the overtime, took care of my husband, and took advantage of any little jobs that came my way. I was thinking the whole time "This too shall pass".

During this same time a new H.O.A formed making membership mandatory. This time around very few people in the neighborhood paid a membership fee because of their angst from the early 2000's when the so called H.O.A. stole their money. In Florida, you only need 3 people to form an H.O.A. and the president elect this time around is a real estate agent. He has since been taking the people in the neighborhood to court to force them to pay delinquent fees of up to $3700 each or they face lien's. If they don't pay, will this real estate agent take over these properties? Will these homes go into foreclosure? I guess this leaves a real estate agency very happy when they take over and make money on cheap distressed land after desolating the pocketbooks of these hardworking people. Losing jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic, recovering from multiple Hurricane, and are struggling to make ends meet. How can someone afford an attorney to fight back? They don't. They can't afford to fight, nope, they just can't afford it. It appears that the dues being collected by these "Rats of Dreams" have not been used to assist their own struggling neighborhood but has instead been used for legal fees to bring their neighbors to their knees. I have never thought about what evil looks like, but I see its face very clearly today.

My story ends here. This a true story of powerlessness. Pandemic, Hurricanes, soon to be homelessness of many. I am in tears and praying as you read this. All hope is lost...