My family’s gambling addiction makes life unbearable for us, and now we are homeless. Do you have a gambling problem? Is your family like mine?
Addiction is a treatable disease, and treatment works. Seek treatment if gambling negatively affects your life.
My name is Katie, and here is my story.
I never thought I would be looking at poverty or for a room in the area of town I am looking for now. By the end of this month, I must leave home and the neighborhood I have stayed all my life.
I promised myself never to do what my parents did to their parents, me, or my children. I cannot change what they did to me, but it is painful. Now, I need to look out for myself.
What can I do?
I am nineteen and cannot blame my parents for my life now. I need to figure out what to do to survive.
First, I need to discard the shame of being homeless and ask for help. I can create a job on the internet, ask my boss if they can pay me for the internship, and email my college advisor so that she can advise me accordingly.
I spoke with my girlfriend, who talked with her parents. They can rent their son’s bedroom to me for four months for free. After four months, I pay $500 without food. I think that was fair with our neighborhood housing market.
I'm in agony.
Later, I spoke with my boss about my internship compensation, but she declined. She suggested I search for jobs on the internet because they pay better than an office job. She offered me a job cleaning the office on Fridays for $150 per month.
More importantly, she gave me good advice and told me, “You’re lucky that you witnessed your parents’ mistakes; that is better than a university education.”
Yes, it makes sense.
I will never repeat my parents’ mistakes. I am saying aloud, “I will never smoke, drink, do drugs, or gamble.”
I need a job fast, or I’ll be sleeping on the street.
Dear readers,
Thank you for reading my story. I feel angry and afraid, but I believe things will work out. I hope my parents find a place to live. Now, I can only worry about myself, but I see the light shining at the end of the tunnel.
Best regards,
Katie.
This fiction was first published on another website.
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