Rock Bottom Has a Basement

Welcome to Inside the Sneakers

After 38 Years of What I Thought Was Being a Pretty Successful Adult

After 38 years of what I thought was being a pretty successful adult, I honestly don’t know where it all fell apart.

Maybe I forgot how to adult.

Maybe the world just kept moving without me.

For most of my life, I did what I thought I was supposed to do. I served my country. I built a career. I raised a family. I paid my bills. I believed that if you worked hard enough and treated people the right way, things would eventually work out.

Then life started unraveling.

It began with an eviction notice after four years in the same home—a home where I’d never been late on rent and never had a complaint against me.

Not long after came the first car accident I’d ever had in more than thirty years of driving. My insurance company sent my vehicle to a body shop instead of a repair shop, refused to repair the actual mechanical damage, canceled my policy, and then stopped returning our calls.

Then came nearly two years of homelessness.

AT&T canceled our phones over a bill they claimed I owed. I paid it, but the phones were still shut off, and somehow the balance grew into thousands of dollars. Charities that were supposed to help ended up costing us money instead. I’ve spent years waiting for SSDI after being told the process would take about two years. We’re now approaching seven. Along the way, banking errors, bureaucratic mistakes, and one setback after another slowly cut us off from what most people consider normal life.

I’d like to tell you things are finally getting better.

The truth is, we’re now facing the possibility of losing our home again because of disputed charges and a property management company that has largely stopped communicating with us.

So why write any of this?

Because I know we’re not the only family living through something like this.

Inside the Sneakers isn’t about asking for sympathy. It’s about documenting what happens when ordinary people fall through every crack in the system—and what it takes to keep getting back up anyway.

If something here makes you think differently, helps you feel less alone, or simply reminds you that the people we pass every day have stories we can’t see, then sharing all of this has been worth it.

Thank you for taking the time to step inside the sneakers.