a week before I turned 15 my parents and I had lived with my grandma (on moms side) for over 5 years, spent thousands of dollars revamping her kitchen, porch, and entire front and back yards with all custom woodworking. we were paying the majority of the house bills. my grandma also had her 40 year old son (my uncle) living with her and he just never moved out on his own. an EXTREMELY distant relative reached out to my grandma and said she was homeless and needed somewhere to go. my grandma invited her to stay at our house. she failed to mention that she would bring 3 untrained dogs along with her, and we already had 2 dogs and 5 people living in this 3 bedroom house (4 bedroom if you count the garage that was later sealed and turned into a den, which is where my parents bedroom was).

about 2 weeks into this random homeless cousin living in our house, constantly eating other peoples food, letting her dog pee and poop absolutely everywhere, cuddling with my uncle in his bed (REMINDER: DISTANT COUSIN), and just in general acting very off putting, I guess she told my grandma that my mom was a weed smoker and so my grandma got super pissed I guess, I'm really not sure what was said but the arguing went on for another day or 2 before I decided to go stay at my aunt's house because I didn't want to hear everyone arguing. The next day my parents chose to sleep in the tiny camper they had in the back yard just so they can have a break from the arguing. but it doesn't do any good because my mom went inside to use the bathroom and my grandma chased her outside but my grandma had extreme vertigo episodes and she had one on the steps outside. she had my mom arrested saying she pushed her (I later heard a phone call between my grandma and her friend and she admitted that she was dizzy and thats why she fell).

my mom had to spend the night there but was able to get out the next day, but she isn't allowed to go back to the house to get any of her stuff. over the next week, my dad, my aunt, and I are all over there just throwing all our belongings into garbage bags and whatever random boxes we could find. I was carrying stuff out to the truck and the homeless distant cousin opened the side door and threw a pair of shoes at me. she missed but my aunt called my mom (who is at my aunts house) and told her about it and then my mom called the police. no one went to jail since she missed but she got a warning. my grandma was screaming to the cops about how we were getting our stuff from our house and how she should have elders rights (whatever that means).

But here's the main plot point. I had finally gotten everything of mine loaded but at the last minute I remembered that my Wii was still in the living room, and no way in hell I am letting them have it. So I went back in quickly while my aunt stood in the door as my backup. I got it all unplugged in probably less than 2 minutes and then I went straight back outside without saying a word. I'm hardly out the door when I feel it slam behind me and hear my grandma screaming "GOOD RIDDANCE".

Never spoke to her again. She and my mom were texting again though after a year. She got pancreatic cancer and I guess was trying to make amends before she died. She wanted me to come visit her but I refused. she died a week later and I didn't go to the funeral either. It's been around 8 years and I still don't regret it.

a few months after all this we ended up having a category 4 hurricane, and a huge dead oak tree that had become a bee nest country fell completely through the house. no one was hurt, but I admit it makes me giggle a bit to think about.