There must be a psych term, like stockholm syndrome, for when you’ve been so confined by others’ bad, abusive behavior that it’s as if an invisible electric fence or force field contains you.  When your “captors” disappear virtually overnight, for days afterward you still feel like any minute now they’ll go “psyche” and return to catch you out of your cage.  That’s how I feel.

Weird, almost spooky, to have no slamming, banging, yelling, and lurking down below, just blessed silence.  It will take a while to overcome the brainwashing (and site contamination) and feel safe to just come and go about our business any time.  Never take that simple freedom for granted!  It seems too good to be true.

It was odd watching the inevitable human scavengers come out after dark, like buzzards, and start picking through the trash left at the curb. That was after dogs and cats had stopped by to mark their territory.  People were even trying on old clothing from trash bags, right there on the street.  No doubt the same clothes the ex-tenants used to leave on the filthy basement floor which their backed-up sewage had covered.

Now, to get the locks changed so all the stray key copies out there in who knows whose possession don’t get used.  Ironic, since they were constantly “losing” copies and leaving the common doors wide open at all hours.  This neighborhood is known for break-ins.

The joys of living in an economically depressed area.  I realize it’s not unique to Ohio, but it will still be a relief to leave this state.  For now, I can actually go outside in the garden again.

Meanwhile my son and family, where we want to relocate, are going through much worse tribulations and disintegration.  We don’t know what we’ll find when we can finally get there.  It seems no one is immune from the human condition.  In the end, it’s always our children who suffer most.

Maudite–means cursed?  Seems appropriate.