The Longest Yard
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Ok, Here it goes.
About 7 years ago I came to the conclusion that I hated what I was doing for a living. I was a hairdresser and I taught other hairdressers about customer service and how to do basic haircuts. It was tedious and boring and I was traveling to glamorous places like Fresno, California. I needed a career change before I went nuts.
A friend of mine and I bought a hair salon together. I ran it and he was the silent partner. It was a disaster! I thought I knew how to run a business but found out that I did not. The end of the business was embarrassing, humiliating, and defeating. I didn't know what I was going to do. I was out of money (I was in debt to a lot of people), out of ideas, and lost. It seemed as though I had reached the bottom of the barrel. Rent was due, the car payment was due, I had little food left, and I had started to borrow money from friends. But I guess when you are down, there is no where else to go except up.
I decided to go back to school to improve my chances of making a living wage and doing something that really spoke to the human being inside of me. I was fishing for the calling, my true self, my best life.
I had only finished beauty school so the proposition seemed daunting. To begin a college career at 47 was intimidating. But it didn't stop me from exploring all the possibilities I had laid ahead of me.
I began my college career at Portland Community College and knew I wanted to work with people. I wanted to help them in some way. I was remembering my challenging, horrifying, and hideous childhood, growing up gay. I wanted to help others who shared a similar lot in life. I wanted to become a Therapist!
In one of my psychology classes a professor took an entire class time to tell us the pathways to counseling, therapy, and the such. It was in that class he explained the path I adopted as my own. I was unstopable. I was on a course to become a licensed clinical social worker. I could counsel people and help with tangible obstacles as well. It was tha calling I had been looking for.
At the same time I had also gotten very close to a friends grandmother. I loved to listen to her stories and take her places with my friend. I loved learning about who she was and what she had done in her life. However, as some stories go, she became ill and fell. She broke her hip and went into a nursing home eventually. There, she recovered and flurished until the staff at the facility balked at her sleeping habbits. She would go to sleep at midnight or one as she had done her whole life. The staff didn't want to be bothered so the facility began to give her something to fall asleep earlier. Then they gave her something to wake up in the morning because she was so groggy. She eventually died from complications from these drugs and from that point on I was a champion for elders in our community.
I took 5 years to go through college. I scrimped, saved, and comiserated with my friends about how little the government loans for school were and how much interest I would have to pay back. I also had developed a very generous group of people who allowed me the privilege to care for their animals while they were out of town. These people gave me so much work that I was able to earn extra cash through all of my college career. Their gifts were very appreciated. Each one was a blessing that fell out of the sky. Thanks to all of you!
Now, I have changed my career path at 51, graduated with a Masters degree in social work, a GPA of 3.98, and have landed a well paying job in a place I love! I am a hospice social worker. I help others find meaning in the life they have lived, I help to reconcile families in the last moments of a person's life, I help people create a legacy that will live on after they have gone, and they allow me the privilege of being a part of one of the most important parts of their lives.
However, I am running the last yard before the big touchdown and I have run out of money. My job is in a town 40 miles from my home. I am running out of money for food, gas, and professional clothing. My friends are tapped out because they have been helping me these last few weeks until I get my first paycheck.
This is my first week of work and will not get paid until the 7th of August. I need gas to get back and forth to work and food to eat for the next 3 weeks. I also need to pay rent on the 1st. Will you help me run that last yard successfully? Will you help me help others? Will you give just a bit to push me to the end zone?
Thank you for your help. I appreciate it. I will pay it forward when I have it also.
Have a good day.
Brian
About 7 years ago I came to the conclusion that I hated what I was doing for a living. I was a hairdresser and I taught other hairdressers about customer service and how to do basic haircuts. It was tedious and boring and I was traveling to glamorous places like Fresno, California. I needed a career change before I went nuts.
A friend of mine and I bought a hair salon together. I ran it and he was the silent partner. It was a disaster! I thought I knew how to run a business but found out that I did not. The end of the business was embarrassing, humiliating, and defeating. I didn't know what I was going to do. I was out of money (I was in debt to a lot of people), out of ideas, and lost. It seemed as though I had reached the bottom of the barrel. Rent was due, the car payment was due, I had little food left, and I had started to borrow money from friends. But I guess when you are down, there is no where else to go except up.
I decided to go back to school to improve my chances of making a living wage and doing something that really spoke to the human being inside of me. I was fishing for the calling, my true self, my best life.
I had only finished beauty school so the proposition seemed daunting. To begin a college career at 47 was intimidating. But it didn't stop me from exploring all the possibilities I had laid ahead of me.
I began my college career at Portland Community College and knew I wanted to work with people. I wanted to help them in some way. I was remembering my challenging, horrifying, and hideous childhood, growing up gay. I wanted to help others who shared a similar lot in life. I wanted to become a Therapist!
In one of my psychology classes a professor took an entire class time to tell us the pathways to counseling, therapy, and the such. It was in that class he explained the path I adopted as my own. I was unstopable. I was on a course to become a licensed clinical social worker. I could counsel people and help with tangible obstacles as well. It was tha calling I had been looking for.
At the same time I had also gotten very close to a friends grandmother. I loved to listen to her stories and take her places with my friend. I loved learning about who she was and what she had done in her life. However, as some stories go, she became ill and fell. She broke her hip and went into a nursing home eventually. There, she recovered and flurished until the staff at the facility balked at her sleeping habbits. She would go to sleep at midnight or one as she had done her whole life. The staff didn't want to be bothered so the facility began to give her something to fall asleep earlier. Then they gave her something to wake up in the morning because she was so groggy. She eventually died from complications from these drugs and from that point on I was a champion for elders in our community.
I took 5 years to go through college. I scrimped, saved, and comiserated with my friends about how little the government loans for school were and how much interest I would have to pay back. I also had developed a very generous group of people who allowed me the privilege to care for their animals while they were out of town. These people gave me so much work that I was able to earn extra cash through all of my college career. Their gifts were very appreciated. Each one was a blessing that fell out of the sky. Thanks to all of you!
Now, I have changed my career path at 51, graduated with a Masters degree in social work, a GPA of 3.98, and have landed a well paying job in a place I love! I am a hospice social worker. I help others find meaning in the life they have lived, I help to reconcile families in the last moments of a person's life, I help people create a legacy that will live on after they have gone, and they allow me the privilege of being a part of one of the most important parts of their lives.
However, I am running the last yard before the big touchdown and I have run out of money. My job is in a town 40 miles from my home. I am running out of money for food, gas, and professional clothing. My friends are tapped out because they have been helping me these last few weeks until I get my first paycheck.
This is my first week of work and will not get paid until the 7th of August. I need gas to get back and forth to work and food to eat for the next 3 weeks. I also need to pay rent on the 1st. Will you help me run that last yard successfully? Will you help me help others? Will you give just a bit to push me to the end zone?
Thank you for your help. I appreciate it. I will pay it forward when I have it also.
Have a good day.
Brian
Organizer
Brian K Fuqua
Organizer
Portland, OR