Chapter 14 - The new apartment
Why did Vanessa come to a new apartment six months later?
Because I had moved.
Not because she threw us out of her house and made us homeless.
That would have been melodramatic and false.
My lease expired four months after the party.
The landlord wanted to raise rent $240.
I had already considered moving closer to Caleb’s school.
I found a two-bedroom apartment ten minutes from work.
Slightly smaller.
Better building.
Same rent as the increased old unit.
Caleb got a bedroom with a larger window.
He thought the move happened because:
“We’re poor.”
That broke my heart.
One night while packing, he asked:
“Did Aunt Vanessa make us move?”
“No.”
“Because the vase?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
“Because the old rent was going up.”
“Because we can’t pay?”
“We could. I don’t want to.”
He frowned.
“So you’re choosing?”
“Yes.”
That word helped.
Choice.
Not eviction.
Not exile.
A financially ordinary decision.
I started speaking more openly about money after that.
Age-appropriate.
Rent costs money.
Groceries cost money.
We have enough for needs and some wants.
No, we are not buying a $180 Lego set today.
That is budgeting, not poverty.
May you like
Caleb relaxed slowly.
Children can absorb shame from one sentence and need dozens of ordinary conversations to release it.
