I know that I piss and moan about my life a lot, and I am an idiot to do so. I have a great little place, warm in the winter, cool in the summer, and it provides most of my needs. A hot tub would be nice, but I could buy one from Amazon if I wanted to.

I've been thinking a lot about the time I was homeless back in Kent, WA. I was down to zero, living in a borrowed tent from my friends Dave and Sue, in the middle of a field that eventually became a Target store. I was walking through the parking lot of a local grocery store, looking for change to survive.

I had led the life of a brilliant computer programmer, money out the ass, totally fucking up relationships, and here I landed. My boy Riley was nearby and he kept me going.

And then it took an injury to fix everything. The kids in Rileys apartment asked me to climb up on a carport to retrieve toys that had landed there. I did, and instead of climbing back down, I jumped into the playground with sandals on. Crushed my left ankle, and ended up having major surgery at the local hospital.

Bear in mind, I didn't have a penny to my name, so they put me on welfare to recover their costs. Suddenly, I was on crutches, with a little bit of welfare money to survive.

Finally, when my ankle recovered, I got a job at a downtown Kent motel, as a bellman. Hauling luggage and washing dishes, for $4.50 an hour. I called up my social worker and told him to take me off of welfare, he was happy.

I did that for about three years, worked my way up to $7 an hour, finally I applied for a bus driving job with Hopelink in Bellevue, and got it. By this time I had a little apartment across the street from Riley's high school and was actively involved in his life.

I went on to become the top supervisor for the largest paratransit bus company on the west coast. I eventually met Steph, moved to Idaho, and left that world behind.

Thanks for reading...

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Be who you are and say how you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind. – Dr. Seuss