Today Ann faces many changes in her life: she sends Debby to Iowa; Graduates from computer college; goes to Iowa to get her boys; gets an aces career opportunity; & stakes out gold mining claims.
THE GOD GAMES: Heaven & Hell...Chapter 26...HELL
I missed the boys desperately and I was trying to save money to make a trip to get them in the summer. Meanwhile, mother's mind was losing its grip to senile dementia and she was making daddy's life a living hell. Daddy's legs were covered in sores from a dermatitis he suffered with, that was exacerbated by stress. He couldn't even sleep he was so stressed. Mother spent hundreds of dollars a day buying promotions on television and on the Home Shopping Network. Then she'd suddenly get a whim and get in her car and disappear for days or weeks. Daddy could then get some rest. He and I began praying for her not to reappear in too short a time.
We had to send Debby back to live with her dad when she turned 19. She was unable to find work and she was having trouble with hitting the little children in her frustration. We could not keep her without her finding a job and contributing to the finances, as the Welfare Department had strict rules about supporting a child who was no longer in school and not contributing to the family. We put her on a Greyhound bus to Iowa, and it was heartbreaking for me to lose another child because of the system. Becky was in and out of the hospital and not doing well in between. She was actively into drugs again and she had very erratic behavior that frightened the younger children. So as I lost my family, I reapplied myself to school and getting straight A's. I felt that if I worked hard enough that I could get a good job and pull all of my family back together again.
Time passed, and that was a blessing. I graduated from Coleman College with a Certificate in Computer Science, with almost straight A's, and as the President of the Student Body.
For a graduation present, mom gave me a credit card to use to go back to Iowa to get the boys and bring them home. Bruce and I set off in his old 1956 Chevy Truck, with five cylinders working, praying that we would make it to Iowa and back. We ran into some problems, but Bruce was an excellent mechanic, and mom had given us the card for emergencies, so we made it.
When we drove out of Iowa with the boys, it was one of the most freeing moments of my life. I finally had my boys back, and we also learned that Debby was pregnant from a young American Indian man from our neighborhood in Santee; he had been part of the neighborhood boys that had given us so much trouble, although this particular young man had not been one who had ever done us any harm personally, his name was Michael and he was very handsome. So I would soon be a grandmother.
We had a career day at Coleman College when I was in my last block of classes, and as President of the Student Body it was my responsibility to set up the booths that the various companies would use. As I saw the booths set up, I got a very good idea of what each company represented and I saw one company that really struck me as being very special. I assigned myself to that booth, for the Starnet Corporation, and served the company's representatives all day long, thus getting to become friends with the ladies from the Human Resources Department. As ONE blessed, I was able to parlay that experience into a temporary job with their company when I finished Coleman College.
We got the children settled into their new school year, and I began to work for Starnet as a temporary employee. Starnet was a telecommunications company that had just started up, and most new employees were hired temporarily until the business got onto its feet solidly. I worked in the Traffic Engineering Department as a beginning associate Traffic Engineer. What fascinating work! I loved the attention to detail that the job required. Six months later I was hired as an Associate Traffic Engineer. It was my job to design and implement telecommunication switches. I was given the cities of New York, Miami, Washington D.C., and Denver to make sure that each city had the needed amount of lines and switches to handle the call volume of all of our customers. I was also given a scholarship to National University to take higher math classes such as Probability and Statistics so that I could do my job better. To me, I was in heaven. I pasionately loved Starnet and the opportunity she gave me, and I worked hard, long hours every day.
Weekends were first spent cleaning the house, and then going up to the Julian Moutains to visit Bruce's dad, George, on his mining claim in Chariot Canyon. I fell in love with George's mine; his shafts and his millhouse that he had built with his own two hands, were works of perfect art and function. I really admred George and George was lonely up in the mountains all alone with no family around. He was happy that at least one of his five sons was still interested in the mine. Dad, George, had taken a lot of gold out of his many mines. He had raised his family on the proceeds, but now he was largely retired. He wondered what was going to happen to his mines when he should pass away; he was afraid that they would fall into the hands of strangers. He began to encourage us to stake out our own claims and begin to work them ourselves. His wife, Esther, gave us all of the Bureau of Land Management's rules and regulations and I took them home to absorb them. Bruce had a very good friend, Bob, who was very generous in helping us out with financial problems at times. We talked over with this friend an idea that we would, the three of us, stake out and run mining claims together. Bob would be the money man, Bruce would be the one with the mining experience, and I would be the paperwork person. It seemed like a plan drawn up in heaven.
Tomorrow we follow Ann as she stakes out mining claims, her first grandchild is born, and Ford Aerospace & Communications Corporation buys Starnet
THE GOD GAMES: Heaven & Hell...Chapter 26...HELL
I missed the boys desperately and I was trying to save money to make a trip to get them in the summer. Meanwhile, mother's mind was losing its grip to senile dementia and she was making daddy's life a living hell. Daddy's legs were covered in sores from a dermatitis he suffered with, that was exacerbated by stress. He couldn't even sleep he was so stressed. Mother spent hundreds of dollars a day buying promotions on television and on the Home Shopping Network. Then she'd suddenly get a whim and get in her car and disappear for days or weeks. Daddy could then get some rest. He and I began praying for her not to reappear in too short a time.
We had to send Debby back to live with her dad when she turned 19. She was unable to find work and she was having trouble with hitting the little children in her frustration. We could not keep her without her finding a job and contributing to the finances, as the Welfare Department had strict rules about supporting a child who was no longer in school and not contributing to the family. We put her on a Greyhound bus to Iowa, and it was heartbreaking for me to lose another child because of the system. Becky was in and out of the hospital and not doing well in between. She was actively into drugs again and she had very erratic behavior that frightened the younger children. So as I lost my family, I reapplied myself to school and getting straight A's. I felt that if I worked hard enough that I could get a good job and pull all of my family back together again.
Time passed, and that was a blessing. I graduated from Coleman College with a Certificate in Computer Science, with almost straight A's, and as the President of the Student Body.
For a graduation present, mom gave me a credit card to use to go back to Iowa to get the boys and bring them home. Bruce and I set off in his old 1956 Chevy Truck, with five cylinders working, praying that we would make it to Iowa and back. We ran into some problems, but Bruce was an excellent mechanic, and mom had given us the card for emergencies, so we made it.
When we drove out of Iowa with the boys, it was one of the most freeing moments of my life. I finally had my boys back, and we also learned that Debby was pregnant from a young American Indian man from our neighborhood in Santee; he had been part of the neighborhood boys that had given us so much trouble, although this particular young man had not been one who had ever done us any harm personally, his name was Michael and he was very handsome. So I would soon be a grandmother.
We had a career day at Coleman College when I was in my last block of classes, and as President of the Student Body it was my responsibility to set up the booths that the various companies would use. As I saw the booths set up, I got a very good idea of what each company represented and I saw one company that really struck me as being very special. I assigned myself to that booth, for the Starnet Corporation, and served the company's representatives all day long, thus getting to become friends with the ladies from the Human Resources Department. As ONE blessed, I was able to parlay that experience into a temporary job with their company when I finished Coleman College.
We got the children settled into their new school year, and I began to work for Starnet as a temporary employee. Starnet was a telecommunications company that had just started up, and most new employees were hired temporarily until the business got onto its feet solidly. I worked in the Traffic Engineering Department as a beginning associate Traffic Engineer. What fascinating work! I loved the attention to detail that the job required. Six months later I was hired as an Associate Traffic Engineer. It was my job to design and implement telecommunication switches. I was given the cities of New York, Miami, Washington D.C., and Denver to make sure that each city had the needed amount of lines and switches to handle the call volume of all of our customers. I was also given a scholarship to National University to take higher math classes such as Probability and Statistics so that I could do my job better. To me, I was in heaven. I pasionately loved Starnet and the opportunity she gave me, and I worked hard, long hours every day.
Weekends were first spent cleaning the house, and then going up to the Julian Moutains to visit Bruce's dad, George, on his mining claim in Chariot Canyon. I fell in love with George's mine; his shafts and his millhouse that he had built with his own two hands, were works of perfect art and function. I really admred George and George was lonely up in the mountains all alone with no family around. He was happy that at least one of his five sons was still interested in the mine. Dad, George, had taken a lot of gold out of his many mines. He had raised his family on the proceeds, but now he was largely retired. He wondered what was going to happen to his mines when he should pass away; he was afraid that they would fall into the hands of strangers. He began to encourage us to stake out our own claims and begin to work them ourselves. His wife, Esther, gave us all of the Bureau of Land Management's rules and regulations and I took them home to absorb them. Bruce had a very good friend, Bob, who was very generous in helping us out with financial problems at times. We talked over with this friend an idea that we would, the three of us, stake out and run mining claims together. Bob would be the money man, Bruce would be the one with the mining experience, and I would be the paperwork person. It seemed like a plan drawn up in heaven.
Tomorrow we follow Ann as she stakes out mining claims, her first grandchild is born, and Ford Aerospace & Communications Corporation buys Starnet
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