Two months after I turned 18, I moved out of my grandparents house, where I had lived my entire life. My boyfriend and I had been dating for five years, and for the past two we had been living together. Unfortunately the strain of living on our own took it’s toll and things fell apart six months into our one year lease. I spent the next two years bouncing around from friends couches, my boyfriend’s mother’s living room, my car and eventually my childhood home once again. We moved back in with my grandparents in 2006 after being in a car accident that made it impossible for me to sleep where I was living at the time. We haven’t been able to leave since.

I’m terrified we won’t be able to make it on our own again. Coupled with my lack of employment (and difficulty finding it) and our credit card debt we’ve amassed since I lost my job in 2007, I feel like we’re never going to get out of here. It’s tearing our relationship, as well as my sanity, apart.

I have to though, I have to.