Plan A – I would enlist in the Army and get money for college that way but Cpt. Judith Harris my family doctor and a dear friend assured me the recruiter who came to St. Gerard to talk about the possibilities of a military career (who also just happened to be most handsome man in uniform ever!) was making promises he could not keep. A case of the dueling captains. She told me “if you want to be a nurse, then become one first and after that join the Army if you still want to give back. With only a high school diploma, you won’t get a plumb assignment, whatever assignment you get it won’t be anything close to the medical field”.
Plan B – I would work my way through college … but I thought I needed a better job than part-time work at Bresler’s ice cream parlor in McCreless mall to afford it. I had no concept of money or budget. Did I mention I was super sheltered?? I was overwhelmed by the real world. But I had a goal to get a better job. So I hoofed it all over San Antonio (way back before internet – paper applications and face time were in vogue) only to be told “No, sorry but we need someone with experience”. Woe is me, the proverbial catch 22 – how to get experience unless someone took a chance on me at only 18 years old?!?!
The summer of 1983 slipped away from us. My friend Linda shipped off to Fort Dix NJ without me. I missed registration at SAC. Brian and I spent a fantastic Labor Day weekend at Port Aransas. I continued to work at Bresler’s. My boss Bill Barlow gave me at 25 cent per hour raise and key to the store so I could close. I was up to a whopping $3.35 per hour. To date, that is still the best raise I have ever received because it came with trust – the responsibility to be 3rd key! I continued to look for a better job. Then quite by accident, everything changed.
More to come …
J-Dub's Grin and Bear It 