Dear Ginnie -

I apologize for not getting back to you earlier, and as always, appreciate Jo*mar's contributions and suggestions, many of which would not necessarily have occurred to me.

I've been mulling this over for a while, and am fundamentally bothered by a couple of points. First, the fact that you only get $400/month in SSDI. Especially after qualifying for (needs based) supplemental income support: the whole reason you needed to be shown paying rent. Second, I find it odd that you received no back award of any kind, where it certainly sounds as though you were disabled for a long time before you were approved by SSDI. And candidly, the fact is that Sean administers your benefits so that you never see money directly from the SSA, and I suppose he's got most of the paperwork from the SSA as well.

At the risk of creating trouble, I am going to suggest - as an initial matter - that you go down (without your son) to the local Social Security office, and verify that (1) your monthly benefits are what you think they are, and that, in truth and fact, (2) you never received any back-pay award on this. (And if you can call ahead for an appointment, it might save some waiting around time in a government office on your part, unless the available appointment dates are so far out that it's not worth it.)

Believe me, I hope my suspicions are groundless.

Mike