As I mentioned in my "Upside down again" post, my soon-to-be-stepdaughter (Stepdaughter) has moved in with her infant twins (Wednesday and Pugsley). She married her babies' Daddy yesterday (Sailor). This is the short version of several long stories.
Stepdaughter has been in touch with social services to get her benefits all lined up. Sailor is active duty Navy, and he's now married to Stepdaughter, the whole family is considered to be part of my household. Add in my fiancee (Handyman) and myself, and I've suddenly got a family of 6! And here I thought I'd been using birth control!
Handyman and Stepdaughter moved in when I went on family leave to take care of Dad. A few years Stepdaughter went to live with Mom. There she met Sailor, and along came Wednesday and Pugsley. The situation at her Mom's wasn't the best, and everyone wound up out here with us.
Sailor and I are the only ones with steady income. My income put Stepdaughter well out of the range for social service type benefits. Sailor will be doing better once he's got new little family on the book, and his housing allotment increases. Handyman has been un- or under-employed for two years now. He's working side jobs and thinking about starting a business, but his income seems to go right back out to his bills.
This isn't easy. I'm worried about my own financial standing. I thought Mom and Dad had a decent nest egg, but I'm seeing how quickly being elderly can work that down. I'm not on the same track that they were in their early 40s. I get scared. I get resentful. I imagine that to the outside world, I look like a total doormat with a house full of freeloaders. Sometimes I look like that to myself too!
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