Christine realized she had to leave her mother’s home to protect herself. When she left, her mother moved to a care facility.
Transcript
I was very fortunate that when I left… fortunate… I had no more, I didn’t have an ounce of caregiving left in me. I had no physical or emotional strength left, and I don’t want to sound like a drama queen, but that’s the case. I really didn’t, I wasn’t… I was very fortunate to find where I’m living now, and it’s perhaps a bit more… I needed a place that was safe and quiet and that was—like, I didn’t have any furniture or anything so this is furnished and everything’s included. I was lucky to find this place because I felt at home here the minute I walked in. It was sunny like it is right now and the owner of the building—I mean, she wants her rent but she was also… I explained my situation that I was not working at the time, and that doesn’t look too good when you’re looking for an apartment to rent. But it so happened that I mentioned that I had been caregiving and she had taken care of her mother for many years and she knows exactly what I had been going through or how I felt. And it wasn’t out of pity she did this. She just felt that there was a bond there. And maybe I have a trusting face, but I said, “I can pay my rent every month. I promise and guarantee that.” And she believed me, and I was being truthful. I just I had to be here. And she took a chance on me and it’s worked out. I’ve been here about 10 months now.
And how it made me feel when I left? Well, I got a lot of phone calls from my sister telling me I, again, abandoned my mother and that she was going to report me for elder abuse and she would call up some of my friends and try and talk against me. And well, that wasn’t too smart because they experienced what I went through in a way, and they were not agreeing with her. So, if she was expecting support from them, she called the wrong people. But she was talking behind my back to anyone who would listen how it was horrible how I left so quickly and abandoned my mother.
And I basically said to her, “Well, I didn’t leave that quickly. Yeah, I found an apartment right away and I’m leaving within a month. That sounds quickly, but for years now I’ve been asking for help and I never got it. So basically I’ve been working towards this for years.” So in my mind, it wasn’t leaving quickly.
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