I wrote a book once called MISFIT MOTEL, which was about the motel I owned and operated. It didn't sell well.... The motel itself seemed to gather the misfits one by one and then it held them, sometimes gently for one one night and sometimes for a couple of years (and everything in between). I am a misfit too, of course, and so they felt very comfortable being my guests, we understood one another perfectly.
Many of these folks came to me from the airport, so after the World Trade Center Bombing, my guests slowly dwindled and local undesirables started to be the only folks that would rent rooms. Either they were doing something they didn't want their mother to see or their wife to see, or both. They were drug dealers, prostitutes and recently released convicts. I would kick one out and the next would be worse, a convicted murderer, just released from prison.
When I tried to clean the place up and get rid of these people, my life was threatened. And so I handed the motel back to the bank, became homeless for 3 years and basically lived by begging in the streets, until my Social Security Disability Insurance came through. Then I saved up some money and eventually was able to rent my own little place. I lived there for 12 years, but you see, when I had been homeless, I had an abusive boyfriend. He sponged off of me, living in cheap motels with me. Oh, he was nice at first. They all are, but anyway, I did leave him and finally succeeded in doing so after my 16th try! He found me waiting for a bus a year and a half later, so I was always scared he'd find out where I lived.
Finally, I got the chance to move 625 miles away from there and I did so. Thank God! I finally feel safe now. I know he could never survive here, way out in the mountains. He's a city slicker. I'm at heart a country girl.
I had 7 miscarriages, I am a widow and I have had plenty of losses in my life, so I know how she feels. But she is right, we CAN remake ourselves. Even when we are in our 60s and beyond.
