In June of 2020, I purchased a duplex and moved in. Two weeks later my boyfriend’s dad died and we moved out of our apartment in order to maintain his dad’s house.

My mortgage specified I needed to live in the property for a year so I kept a room there and rented it to a roommate who had a dog. The dog had a tenancy to jump on people because she was friendly. A UPS guy had an interaction where he thought the dog would bite him and ran away and somehow fractured his arm.

I got a letter in the mail and filed a claim with my insurance company. My tenant didn’t have renters insurance even though I asked her to purchase it. It turns out my insurance policy does not consider the dog “mine” and may not cover it.

Unfortunately, my state’s definition defines anyone in the apartment as owning the dog, so I may be responsible.

I find myself blaming others, catastrophizing this will be a long time-consuming, and expensive process, that my family will find out and worry about me, that my boyfriend will tell me I’m stupid because he didn’t agree with renting to a dog owner.

I am blaming myself a lot and not focusing on my career goals.