I Am Blessed!

Two months from now it'll be three years. The absolute lowest point of my life. One day before things started getting better. I had moved to Florida to escape frigidly cold winter temperatures, and try to build a new life for myself. I failed...miserably. I returned penniless, on a crazily icy-cold night to live in a bedroom at my mother's house...who'd had to pray for three days about whether to even allow me to come & stay. I'm eternally grateful she got a "yes",  because I don't know what I'd have done otherwise.  I was home a couple weeks, and busily applying to pretty much any job I even thought I could do. I owed my ex roommate, the government, and another dear friend money. But it was not until after I awoke one morning to see the one thing I'd fiercely clung to....gone, that I felt the direness of my situation. My beloved MINI Cooper S had been repossessed, in the middle of the night. Everything in it was gone too, including one of my mom's garage door openers. I was shocked. Humiliated. And utterly defeated. When your car is repo'd, they clean it out, gather your things together, and keep it at their place for a short period of time. I...could not make it down to the place in time to collect those things. I can not describe to you how alone I felt. I stood in my mother's house, at 50 years old, and felt like a failure. I was being toted around by my mother. Dropped off at the library or McDonald's or Starbuck's. Using their free Wi-Fi to hunt for jobs online.
The next day, I got a call for a first interview for the job I now have. It took about 6 weeks, and a couple more interviews, but I secured the job. I borrowed my out-of-town daughter's car for the summer, and got busy paying. I paid Uncle Sam. I started (I'm not done yet) paying my gracious roommate from Florida back. And, I started learning. It took me well over a year working to start to feel calm about it (my job). There are no words I could type that would express to you my gratitude to the two ladies who ultimately made the decision to hire me. I applied for a part time job. I worked full time during training, then went to part time for six weeks. I was offered full time after that six weeks, and I jumped at the chance! My daughter came home from New York City to claim her car, so I had to do something to make sure I could get back & forth to work. Enter a lease to own car place for people with bad credit. Since October of 2012, I have faithfully paid on the vehicle I was driving. Every moment I spent in it was a reminder of my previous failure. It served me well, got me where I needed to go, and was even what I used to move in to my lovely apartment in January, 2013.
I have my own place. I have a cat. I have the car. I have a job I enjoy, and another opportunity coming up soon for which I am also extremely grateful. It's going to be about another year before that incredibly patient lady I shared a house with is paid off. Then lastly, the other friend. My celebratory adventure is going to be a trip to the U.K. And, if I'm correct, what I feel this moment will be nothing compared to that moment... as I board the plane, unencumbered by debt to anyone I call friend, and start a journey that's been forty-plus years in the making.
I type all of this to you, not to show myself as a model of how it should be done but rather, to try to encourage anyone who might think they should just give up. The world can be a crummy place. Sometimes, it is because of someone else's actions, but a lot of times, it's because of our own. If we were face to face I would tell you just don't ever give up! Set goals, and do what it takes to reach them. When you reach them, be happy about it, and re-focus to a different goal. Three years ago I would not have thought it possible to be where I am today. But, it is possible! I am living proof! (and so...is this! Today, I replaced the MINI!)