This is our new normal. Things are fine (we know what “fine” means), yes, things are fine.
I am very thankful for my friends who are so there for us. Kid’s are okay. Well, somewhat. They are questioning everything and want to feel that they have a home. Our youngest is the most uptight and has had some melt downs….
Yes, our youngest won’t sleep in his room. Even though I had it painted the same color as his room at 4020. I tried to make our rental our “home” as much as I could. We actually had all of our bedrooms painted to the same color as 4020. Need to make it “home”.
Thinking about the day the Minnetonka City Council approved this project. Thinking about the comments from the Mayor and Council. I am just thinking about the last eight years and how I talk to my children.
Did anyone consider that you were actually affecting families?
That you were affecting us with your decisons? Do you understand that we think about your decision everyday and you probably do not even remember who we are?
That is why I will continue our story. I will write about you and your decisions.
Background story is next.
`Susan
Dear Susan, I found your blog tonight. I will be back to learn more of your story.
I thought I was going to lose my life to a project that affected our home of 24 years (we are now going on 29 years here). It completely devastated our lives. For months we endured condemnation pressure. After three months of intense pressure, I collapsed and it took more than fifteen months to recover to the point that I could eat normally again, though life was still far from normal. I cannot describe what my husband and I went through during that time. Nor what our grown children, and our extended family went through witnessing the aftermath of what had happened to me, coupled with what was going on around us. Eight months after I’d healed to the point that I could eat properly again, sewer gas from the project started coming directly into our home. That continued for sixteen months. My husband and I could have both lost our lives. Our precious little granddaughter, who was born while I was still struggling health wise, was also here with us a great deal. Many times I had to leave home to get her away from the gas. To even think about it now gives me chills. At that time, we did not realize all the ways the gas was getting inside our home. It took engineers from other states to help us figure out what was happening. I am beyond grateful to them. They are guardian angels in my eyes.
A couple of years after the easement pressure we found out the condemnation talk was just a game. They were never going to condemn us. The day I got that email I sat down and cried. I don’t understand that kind of cruelty.
You ask – Did anyone consider that you were actually affecting families? I actually asked a similar question of our City Administrator of 2009– I looked her right in the eyes and said ‘Do you ever think of the people you’re hurting?’ Without the slightest hesitation she said, ‘No.’
I also need to begin to tell our story but first we had to rebuild our lives to some kind of ‘new’ normalcy. If nothing is done, by the time our grandchildren are grown I fear they will have no property rights at all. What you are doing here Susan, might help so many others. What you are doing here has given me the momentum to begin bringing our own story into the light.
This may not apply to you but Senator Bobby Zirkin of Maryland introduced Senate Bill 396 in 2013. Real Property – Use of Coercion, Threat, or Intimidation – Contracts Void. I talked to a member of his staff who told me that it did not get very far. She said that personal stories were needed, that it would take real people speaking up. I know there are a lot of people out there who would want to speak up if only they had a way to do it. Not having the finances to defend your home and family in these situations is heartbreaking…my husband and I know that reality all too well. We have a, now, mortgaged home to prove it.
You do not have to post this. It won’t hurt my feelings. You have your own story to tell, and I will be back to read more of it.
If we could somehow gather enough stories we might turn the tide a little. My heart is with you. My ‘nest’ does not feel the same and I wonder if it ever will.
Nancy, White House, Tennessee