2009 was a terrible year for me. I had just been promoted to a full time job making 45k, just married, and just bought a new car and moved into a new apartment. Life was good, until June. A series of bad events led to me losing my job, having a car repo'd and losing everything but my marriage. My gun safe went from 20 something guns to 1 old .22 my great grandpa gave me. I sold everything I had except my bow and camo. I was working 40+ hrs a week as contractor and bringing home about $200 a week after work expenses.
January of 2010 I made a grand total of $196. I worked $40 hr weeks but screwed up a door at work and had to pay $1200 to replace it. Life was hard. I worked out of a 95 F150 that was usually buried to the rim with old toilets, doors, and tools. I never stopped. My vehicle was breaking down along with my body and more importantly, my spirit. I was doing all I could to keep my head above water and the bills paid while my wife finished college. She had a full ride through a private college, so i wasn't even considering asking her to quit to work.
Years passed and we struggled. from 2010-2012 we lived off of deer meat, fish, and our garden. People say "oh yeah we live off wild game". I remember a day when we opened the freezer and it was empty. I went fishing and caught bluegill and a catfish. That was our meat for the WEEK. Depression set in and that never helps.
Somewhere along the way I was invited to bear hunt in NC with a guy I met through a friend. I saved and scrapped spare metal from jobs to pay for the tag. The guy was a great man and somehow knew how rough life was. He told me to keep my chin up and prayed with me. He even offered to show me his Ginseng patch and let me take some some, but I didn't.
Long story short, life was hard until my wife got a job after college. That gave me time to work on my career and get back into law enforcement full time. I still work 2 jobs but life has turned around. I checked my bank account today and was overdrawn- my guts twisted and gave me that old feeling of being dead broke. I went through some pictures and saw my old work vehicles and pics of my first trip to NC. Pretty uplifting to remember what it was like to be so down. I opened my freezer and saw about 40 pounds of red meat left from Wyoming. Then I realized I went from being dead broke to being able to take trips to Wyoming last year, NC a few times, and Utah this year.
I don't know if any of you are having it tough right now, but I fell like someone may need to read this. What seems so far in the past for me was just 2 years ago. Life can change fast! Keep your chin up!
Here's some pics of my old truck and work van. Thats a weeks worth of work in my truck i never had time to empty or scrap!
The pic on the roof was a day of work, Someone broke into my car and stole my belt. I used a piece of soft copper for a belt for a few days!
January of 2010 I made a grand total of $196. I worked $40 hr weeks but screwed up a door at work and had to pay $1200 to replace it. Life was hard. I worked out of a 95 F150 that was usually buried to the rim with old toilets, doors, and tools. I never stopped. My vehicle was breaking down along with my body and more importantly, my spirit. I was doing all I could to keep my head above water and the bills paid while my wife finished college. She had a full ride through a private college, so i wasn't even considering asking her to quit to work.
Years passed and we struggled. from 2010-2012 we lived off of deer meat, fish, and our garden. People say "oh yeah we live off wild game". I remember a day when we opened the freezer and it was empty. I went fishing and caught bluegill and a catfish. That was our meat for the WEEK. Depression set in and that never helps.
Somewhere along the way I was invited to bear hunt in NC with a guy I met through a friend. I saved and scrapped spare metal from jobs to pay for the tag. The guy was a great man and somehow knew how rough life was. He told me to keep my chin up and prayed with me. He even offered to show me his Ginseng patch and let me take some some, but I didn't.
Long story short, life was hard until my wife got a job after college. That gave me time to work on my career and get back into law enforcement full time. I still work 2 jobs but life has turned around. I checked my bank account today and was overdrawn- my guts twisted and gave me that old feeling of being dead broke. I went through some pictures and saw my old work vehicles and pics of my first trip to NC. Pretty uplifting to remember what it was like to be so down. I opened my freezer and saw about 40 pounds of red meat left from Wyoming. Then I realized I went from being dead broke to being able to take trips to Wyoming last year, NC a few times, and Utah this year.
I don't know if any of you are having it tough right now, but I fell like someone may need to read this. What seems so far in the past for me was just 2 years ago. Life can change fast! Keep your chin up!
Here's some pics of my old truck and work van. Thats a weeks worth of work in my truck i never had time to empty or scrap!
The pic on the roof was a day of work, Someone broke into my car and stole my belt. I used a piece of soft copper for a belt for a few days!
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