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You live here because
You live here because you bought it, and now you’re in limbo. It’s not the dream you thought it would be, but untangling the knot would be too complicated, and staying, well, staying is not that bad, but it’s not what you want, what you thought, what you dreamed.
You tell your family this is compromise, and they say you’re just crazy.
You’re telling yourself to look on the bright side a lot. There’s a distant legal battle, but you won’t see any money if your side “wins.” That will go back to banks and developers.
They’re trying to take this place out from under you, and that makes you even more stubborn.
You are here because this was the choice you made and keep making every day. When there’s no water, you buy it or de-salt the ocean. When there’s too much, you use buckets and sweep out the storm. There is hardly ever electricity, so everything you own is battery-powered. “This is no place to raise a family,” you tell the mold on the walls.
You hear more banks are collapsing and it makes you check the year. It has been a long time. You know the rumors in bars: They are talking about you; they are wondering how you got past the guard.
You remember your first time here, when you decided to live here. You were young and had a good job. You wanted to work remotely — you were early…
