Full Circle

Tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of my divorce.  With that has come the strangest turn of events. As usual - these things really do only happen to me.

My ex's landlord is a slumlord to say the least.  He purchased the building from the old landlord in June and our first encounter with him was when he found him peeing on the back of the building underneath the ex's bedroom.  So classy.  When the hot water went out in September, he tried to use a unlicensed plumber to fix the job to save a few bucks.  After a few days of having to take cold showers and sending my son to my place for showers; the ex asked to be put up in a hotel for the night so he could take a hot one.  The landlord said tough luck.  The ex called the city.  The city came out and fined him for not pulling permits for a total repiping and the guy was finally forced to get a licensed plumber. In the mean time - the ex suffered through 2 weeks of cold showers and threatened to take the guy to court if he didn't discount the rent.  The landlord did so begrudgingly, but then he threw a 10% rent increase at him starting December 1st - the 2nd one in 6 months.  It was totally retaliatory, but the ex decided it was just easier to fight him in court over the deposit, than to deal with him over the rent.  The rent will be higher than the comps in the area with refurbished kitchens which his does not have.  So he gave his 30 day notice.

When I went to pay my rent, I was informed that my landlord is moving her mother in because she is sick and since I have the shortest tenancy - my room is the room she gets.  Now I personally think that the hot dumb housemate should have gotten the boot considering the drunken grief he gave everyone before he sobered up, but not my house - so I have no say.

Now, we both need a new place to live.  I am honestly at the ex's more than I am my own place.  I joke that I spend $745 a month on a closet. So, it was decided that we are going to get place together with all the amenities we are currently lacking.

For instance:

• A washer and dryer in the unit.  Do you know how frustrating it is when you have to share one washer with 5 other people?  It means that I rarely got to do my laundry and ended up having to do it at the ex's anyway.  
• A dishwasher.  This doesn't seem like a big luxury, but I HATE doing dishes and haven't had access to one in 12 years.  Some of the biggest fights between me & the ex were over the dishes not being done.  
• A pool.  Sure we live in sunny Southern California with a beach about 10 minutes away.  The problem is there is never parking at the beach in the summer because everybody and their mother is there, plus all the tourists.  (Those are the ones splashing in the water in early June before the water has had a chance to warm up). It gets damn hot here come August and it will be nice to just go for a dip when we are sweating in places it isn't polite to sweat.
•  A gym with equipment and free weights.  This will save me $30 a month in gym membership.

More importantly though - I get equal access to my son and don't have to look for a place that will let me have him there.  This is not as easy as it seems and even though I have been fortunate enough to find 2 places that would let me have him - I still needed to give notice that he would be there.  If I am living with him- I get to be full time mom again.  Dad can now take time to do what he wants without me having to clear it through the channels because I will be there to watch GMan. 

Is this going to work? Maybe third time is the charm? Who knows - but we seem to be actually working together for maybe the 1st time ever.  We are discussing things instead of yelling over each other and attempting to hear each other out.  We acknowledged that each of us have strengths that the other lacks.  I am not saying we have reconciled.  Not by any means.  I am pretty sure this will put the kibosh on dating for awhile though.  It isn't like there is whole lot going on in that department anyways.  All I know is that I have one happy 7 year old who gets a pool and both parents back for now and I will be saving $100 a month.  I just hope my soul was worth that much.