Year 2007 was one of the most frustrating years of my life. It just seemed like nothing would go right. I felt as if I was constantly running with the wind to my face and that the wind just kept blowing faster and faster. I try not to be superstitious but things seemed to get instantly better once the year was over.
January 2007
First, my step mom had a heart attack, which to this day no one is quite sure why she had one. At one point she was actually dead, but thank god they were able to revive her.
The second thing that happened that year happened on the way home from visiting her in the hospital. My step-brothers and I were driving home on a night when the state was going to be covered in freezing drizzle. We were on I235 at about 10:00. I remember watching the dark figure of a vehicle getting closer and closer to my window, until it crashed through the driver side window and my door jammed shut. I was sitting in the backseat. The lights were on inside and we hadn’t stopped yet. Due to the damage of our vehicle we were forced to stop along the center wall of the interstate where we got hit from the rear end a second time. Before the second hit, My step brothers had gotten out of the car to look at the damage and try to get some info from the driver that hit us. (He was 1/4 mile behind us and crashed into the wall on the opposite side of the street) I can still remember looking out my window seeing my younger step brother talking on the phone right before the second car hit us from behind. After we were hit, I didn’t see him anymore. I had never been so afraid in my life. I thought I had just lost a member of my family. Apparently, he was able to jump over the car before we got hit. By the end of the night, 12 vehicles had been involved in the accident, not excluding a DOT snow plow.
One weekend when I came home Marshalltown suffered through “The Ice Storm” which knocked out power for several days if not weeks for Marshalltown. The day the storm had started, it was just me and my brother at home in the dark. My mother insisted that since it was her birthday, she could go to the bar and celebrate instead of the staying home with her children.
My mother wasn’t being very supportive of anything I was doing a the time. When I would come home to visit, she would spend more time at the bar or with her boyfriend. I felt emotionally abused by her whenever I was home.
February – March
There had been several relationship attempts that year, all of which failed. I began to start feeling really depressed at school and wanted nothing more than to get out of there. I felt alone like no one was there for me anymore.
April 2007
In April I found out that Marshalltown Schools was looking for a computer tech. I had worked there as a student and knew that I was more than qualified for the position. So I interviewed for the position and on the last day of college classes I found out I had gotten the job. I had to live with my mom until I could get some money to move out.
June 2007
Unfortunately I didn’t leave her home on my time schedule. About a month after I had been working, it was a Friday night and my mom and her boyfriend had been drinking. We were talking about something which led to him saying I was on drugs. I had been exhausted from lack of sleep and working all week, so I really was up for any “jokes.” So I told him that it kind of pissed me off that he said that. I got up and went down to my bedroom to avoid anything worse from happening. It didn’t help, 10 minutes later he came to the top of the stairs and started yelling down at me, saying something about not being able to take a joke. I yelled that I was sorry and didn’t mean to piss him off, and he said that he was going to beat my skull in. He ran down the stairs after me and had me pinned to the floor saying something about him always being smarter than me. He threw me on to my bed (which i bounced off the wall first). My mom came down and watch the second half and didn’t do anything until I ended up on my bed. They went upstairs and I ran out.
She called me on the my cell phone saying that she didn’t know what to do. I suggested that she needed to kick him up but she got all pissy, saying now that she’s happy we (my brother and I) just want to ruin for her. I responded “If you happiness is more important to your children, then F**k you.” My dad told me that I shouldn’t have said that, but it almost made me feel relieved. the following Sunday I moved all my stuff out of her house and moved in with my brothers Dad. My former step-dad has always been there for me when I’ve need him. I have been very privileged that after my mom divorced him, that he has made sure that I remain a part of his family.
July 2007
I stayed with my step-dad for about week, After a month and a half, the school district gave me my first paycheck so I found an apartment and moved in. I was finally on my own, I could do what I wanted, whenever I wanted, and didn’t have to worry about someone being mad at me when I got home.
After working for the school for a while, I realized that I didn’t really care for the job. I was constantly working by myself and I had no degree to move elsewhere. So I started up online classes through Iowa Central so I could finish my AAS in Computer Networking.
I started feeling extremely burnt out on computers. I started feeling depressed again, all my friends were either working or with their girlfriends. So I would spend my entire day by myself.
August – September???
I remember when my buddy Joe Wakeman invited me to come hang out for the weekend at UNI. I figured I had nothing better to do so I headed north. When i got there, Joe and Kelsey started showing me around campus. I started to feel like I was missing out on something, which really didn’t make me feel any better. Joe insisted that I should come to UNI and better my education. When I got home I called my dad and he was 100% against the idea, in fact he still is partially. I was immediately worried that I would be stuck taking classes at ICCC and that everyone I knew would end up with a better life than I had. I was so tired of spending my work day by myself, and coming home to no one. I felt as if i would be stuck in my dead-end job forever. If I had made it to UNI, what would I do in the summers? how would I pay for it? I guess Joe told his folks about the living situation I would have during the holiday breaks and they decided that it would be best if I lived with them during those periods. A glimpse of hope shined. I was being pulled into someone else’s family. I was amazed, especially since they were people that I had only met me a few times.
Due to a technical glitch I spent the last night of 2007 by myself. For some reason it did seem like thats how it should have ended. 2007 has been dubbed the Year of Hell.
Through most of that year, I started losing faith. I thought god had let go of me, and that things would just keep working against me. I was being test and pushed to my limits. Things had to get better and I counted down to the end of 2007. Why did I think everything would get better in 2008? I really don’t know.
Bad years will come and go all through life, and people just need to remember to hang in there.