From Owning a Home to Now Traveling the Great USA

I overcame mentally abusive relationships in my teens and as an adult to build a successful mortgage company in my late 20s. In my 30s, I underwent a hysterectomy due to endometriosis, after healing from the surgery, I knew it was time to take on a divorce and raise my children alone. After several years of being divorced, I married my current husband. We have overcome some difficult times and now travel full-time while living in a fifth wheel.

 

I want you to know who I really am. Only close friends know my story and have witnessed the good times and struggles I have faced. After doing some research I have decided to share my story with the hopes it helps someone. Many people don’t share their stories or want you to really know who they are. This is my story and I hope it gives you an idea of who I really am.

Learning the American Dream at an early age

As a teenager, I knew that you had to work for what you wanted. I spent summers working as a  baby sister and at pizzerias where aunts worked over the years. I started door hanging when that was a popular thing to make cash money. When I got a little older I worked on the weekends only and stayed with a friend of mine that I met at work. I enjoyed the freedom I had of staying with her, working, and doing teenage things while not being under my parent’s thumb. As I got older I started helping out with our family financials which became an ongoing thing.

 

 

Verbally and Mentally Abused turned into Mentally Tough

My childhood wasn’t always a bed of roses. My Mom and Dad divorced before I had turned the age of two, and my Dad remarried pretty quickly. I am not sure of all the life events I went through until the age of five. I just know my Dad and Step Mom raised me. Until age 5 I was the only child, my Dad and Step Mom had their own children. My life changed as a child, I became an older sister and loved my siblings ( two from my father and one from my mom).

When I was in second grade my mom relocated to Florida with her son and new husband. I felt devastated and had no understanding of why she was leaving me behind. That whole year in school was very traumatic for me plus my stepmom wasn’t the nicest. Due to me having issues with my mom relocating one day my stepmom took me to my mom’s place of employment and had me confront her about why she was leaving me behind.

As a child, this was very hard and devastating for me and caused even more problems. I remember daydreaming in school and having to attend speech therapy at some point. I am sure this wasn’t easy for my dad and stepmom.

The older I got the more I reminded my stepmom of my mother, and she couldn’t wait for me to come of age so that I could move out. I remember living with one of her sisters for a while while she was stressed and losing hair, which in turn she said I had caused her. There are times that I remember getting in trouble around my birthday just so I wouldn’t have any special treatment.

Like during the holiday season, I would be excited for special events with extended family while getting told to make a list of items I wanted for Christmas, to only be told “How can you choose these things knowing we don’t have a lot of money”.

I remember my preteen years as wanting to die and just be relieved from not feeling I belonged. I had an emptiness inside from abandonment and not being accepted. I know at a young age I just wanted to have my own family with children so that I would be loved no matter what.

The only thing that kept hope alive in me was I believed in God. I would pray often for him to bring me home so that I wouldn’t be a burden to anyone and I would be in peace. Thank God my dad had instilled and insisted I ride the bus to church on Sunday mornings and went to vacation bible school over the years. I believe that this is one of the reasons I never hurt myself or went too far off the beaten path of life. I did turn to food as a comforter, bread, and chocolate were my best friends.

The type of treatment I received was not always the greatest, I was still thankful to have a family.  I recall times my dad would apologize for the different obstacles that I had overcome. Something in me just knew that all the things I went through would make me stronger. I never let anything hold me back.

 

Relocated to Brazil

At twenty I married my boyfriend who was from Brazil. Going from an abusive childhood to an abusive marriage isn’t uncommon I guess.  We got married in 1994 and in 1996 we discovered he needed to return to Brazil for an order of deportation. I made the decision to move with him without knowing how long we would be there. I knew before I had children I wanted to learn Portuguese and learn how to cook Brazilian food.

I knew that our relationship was less than perfect but I had no idea just how bad it was. I knew I loved him and always thought he just wanted better for me with the demands of how I dressed and insisted I listened and learned Portuguese on my own. During the first two months of living there, I was homesick and called my friends and family often which resulted in high phone bills that surfaced later on.

I didn’t know that language when we moved there but over time of watching TV and only having a handful of people to speak English with I started to learn the language a little at a time. I landed an English Teaching job while there it was short-lived due to me having to get back to the States for some things.

After landing in Atlanta and calling to speak with him, my Portuguese kicked in and I was able to communicate on the phone. After six weeks of resolving our stuff, I went back to Brazil and lived there until November of that year. We went through several times traveling to Rio de Janeiro for immigration interviews and waiting for answers in the meantime I wrote several letters to the GA congressmen to see if I could get some movement on the case.

Having lived eight months in Brazil, I learned so much. We traveled to Argentina, Paraguay, and Foz De Iguacu. Traveling to other countries was very insightful with an experience that no one can take from me. I loved the food and culture, it was one of the main things I wanted to have before having children.

Finally in November just in time for Thanksgiving, we were back on US land. While I enjoyed the time and experiences learned while living there I also was happy to be home. After being home for six months I got pregnant with our first child. After years of treatment for my endometriosis, it was fairly quick.

 

Becoming a Real Estate Agent

During the time I was pregnant with my first child, my then-husband decided I needed to become a real estate agent. Being pregnant and sitting in a classroom setting at a real estate office wasn’t my dream. I sat through the classes, but my heart wasn’t in it so I took the test to complete the class and failed.

At that point, I had a turn-key apartment cleaning company. I had someone who helped me clean apartments and houses. Once it got closer to having the baby I left someone else cleaning in my place and just overlooked it.

As my son turned eighteen months old I was ready for a second child. Their father wasn’t going for it, he said I needed to decide what I was going to do for a living before having another child. Mind you he was making great money but wasn’t happy with me just raising children. So he insisted that I get my real estate license so I told him I would if he went through the course with me.

We both passed and became agents, I got pregnant pretty quickly again with our second child. At seven months I realized real estate wasn’t for me and decided to give the mortgage industry a try. I loved the challenge it brought and helping others get approved. After a couple of years, I ended up opening my own shop with a business partner. I ran a successful business for eight years before the economy took a turn for the worse.

Traveling A Road of Reinventing

When the real estate market took a shift I decided to go to college and become a nurse. I took a quick class to become a CNA and work while going to school. Raising two children going to school full time and working a full-time job was not easy.

During the time I was working my then-husband was supposed to be holding down the household. I would call on breaks to check and the kids should have been in the house getting ready for bed instead they were still outside playing. After a couple of years of marriage therapy, it was time to call it quits after sixteen in half years.

After the divorce, I felt like a weight was lifted from my shoulders. I started working nights at the hospital as a unit secretary, I had to have friends stay the night or get a babysitter due to the ex not helping me out. After six months I changed to PCT to work days while they were in school. After a while of that, I went back into real estate, but the market still wasn’t great. So I joined a direct sales kit and became a consultant while working another full-time desk job.

I ran a successful direct sales business for 7 years, it took several years to build up my clientele. I enjoyed meeting women and being invited into their homes to entertain, educate, and empower them.

 

Traveling Isn’t Always Easy

I remarried five years after my divorce to a good man. The children went off to college and I was ready for a change. I approached my husband and talked to him about relocating to a beach town. He thought about it and we were starting to make plans to travel and check some places out. Until one day he came home and asked if I would consider living in a fifth wheel.

Looking puzzled I asked, “What is that?” So during the process of several months, we shopped around, did research, and put the house for sale. Sold most of our belongings and house at the high of COVID-19 and purchased our new home.

When we left GA and headed to NC we had our first blowout on the camper. Pulled over on the side of the road to change it out, and let me tell you that was nerve-wracking. Then several months later we were in Kentucky and one of our landing legs broke. Brian had to crank the camper up and down manually every time we moved for several months. Then we got to Alabama and had it repaired.

Traveling and Making Money

Life on the road isn’t always easy, we miss family and friends. The first two years of traveling we were figuring out the hard stuff and had something always going wrong but we have seemed to smooth out some kinks. We have worked gig work across the US while starting this website so we could share our journey. I have since started making personalized items to sell. The entrepreneurial spirit still thrives in me after taking some time to figure out the RV life.

I would love it if you would take the time to join our postcard mailing list so we can send you happy mail.

 

Thank you very much for taking the time to read my story, and I hope the story of your life is filled with faith, hope, and love.