My financial woes began in mid 2003. I had left "Corporate America" to follow the American Dream in 2001 to become an entrepeneur and be my own boss. I firmly believed that I had gained the experience to make this move and still do even though things might not have turned out that way. My professional experience had been in medical sales for 22 years and so I ventured into the pre-owned medical equipment initially and eventually worked into federal/military contracting representing other small businesses in their market focus areas. The hardest challenge was the first two years of securing those small business's that wanted to expand into government contracting as partners since I had gained a great deal of knowledge on bidding to that arena.
By mid 2003 I had built quite a substantial credit card debt and income just wasn't coming in so a friend (attorney) recommended that I might want to consider filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy to wipe out the credit debt without affecting my company. I filed late 2003 and was granted the Chapter 7 early January, 2004. My $200K home went through foreclosure mid January but I never received a notice to vacate so I gave the bulk of my furnishings to my daughter and her husband and house sat for 6-months with just a bed and tv. The gas was eventually turned off and I spent two months taking cold showers (whenever I watch "The Game" with Michael Douglas it reminds me of those times). Mid June I finally received notice that I needed to vacate which led me to move in with my mother who lived in a retirement village. She was happy to have me move in since she was going through some medical issues and because of my background I could be of help. It was a win-win situation for both of us (I'll address this existence in another blog since it's another story to be told).
Needless to say, between losing the house and moving in with my mom, I started having panic attacks which were very devastating. At the time I could still see my physician and he verified the panic attacks he got me samples to address the condition but once I ran out of the samples I started hitting the vodka on ice to cope. It became a major challenge.
My Lincoln Towncar was repo'ed in August of 2004 at 5:30 in the morning. I heard screeching tires but thought it was just some highschool kids trying to wake-up some of the residents in the retirement village until I went out to run an errand and my car was gone. I called the village security to report it stolen when they informed me to call the city police and I was notified that it had been repo'ed.
Around August of 2005 I received an eviction notice from the retirement village, not because I had done anything wrong, but because my mother had signed a contract that wouldn't let relatives live and care for her (Of course, she didn't read the fine print when she signed it). Funny that it took 2-years for them to realize and act on it.
I was truly left homeless. I definetly didn't want to go to the downtown City Mission so I was literally considering finding a bridge to live under. It was desperate times until a very good highschool friend invited me to come out to northern California and live with him. He even paid for my flight out. He found me a job working for a hunting club gutting pheasant and chukkers. It paid a $1 a bird plus tips and usually worked out to around $30-40 dollars a day on weekends.
After 6-months, my mother wasn't doing well medically and my son had just graduated from Border Patrol training so I decided to go back and killed two birds with one stone. I got to see my son before his assignment to San Diego and find a way to help my mom. I ended up moving back in with her without anyone saying anything for another 2-years (go figure).
I got evicted again in May of 2008 but this time the head of security knew of a Salvation Army shelter (another blog) in Independence, MO and I was able to move in there for about 3-months. The stipulation there is that you had to look for a job which I had no problem with but at my age and being over qualified and many applications later it wasn't an easy thing to do. I finally got a call from the general manager at a Dennys that hesitated because of my background professionally and age but took the chance and never regretted the hire as a dishwasher. I looked at it like another learning experience.
I finally started to make money for the first time in a long time and was able to get a studio apartment and be on my own again while being a care giver to my mom on a part-time basis. I lived paycheck to paycheck without any type of social life except for patrons and employees at work. After 2-years of doing this, my mom passed away this past February and since I didn't have any ties in KC, my son asked me to move here to San Diego and help him start a business that we had spoken of many times.
So here I am, I got his business plan completed and we're waiting on funding but in the mean time I'm still unemployed and the market doesn't look all that great. I just this week started a work from home business and feel optimistic that it should take off. It better, now I've got the IRS coming after me for a 2002 back tax return that I know I paid but they still froze my bank account.
I've struggled the past 6 years so if you think you may have it bad just reflect on my challenge that I've just shared. I hope it helps in some way.
All I can say is keep the faith.
God bless and God speed
