If I had to choose the best decade of my life it
would be 1969-1979 from the age of 33-43---from that point on there would a
great year and here and a few 'bummers' but most, like most of life, were
neutral.

One thing that happened to
me in the 1980s that I hadn't mentioned was my developing an extreme fear of
telephones!! It was irrational but the fear was there. I thought I had gone
crazy and, sometimes, would run out of my apartment when the phone rang. I did
go for help--I am a great believer in asking for help when you need it--and it sort of
subsidized but would come back now and then to the point that I didn't answer
the phone for weeks or just turned it off.

In my mid 50s I once again moved and I had a new
job. I went to work at The Crabhouse, an upscale seafood restaurant, which
wasn't the best job I ever had but I did meet some great people along the
way.

I don't remember the exact dates or when what
happened but I do know that when I was 56 I had to file for bankruptcy. Was it
around that time? Before? After? that I sent out the letters to everyone I new
asking for money to help and was surprised by those who did and those who didn't
let alone some of the amounts sent? It helped me get through a really rough time
and I did eventually pay everyone back including someone who shocked the hell
out of me by sending me $2,000!!!

A couple of years later my
friend Perry told me about subsidized housing and how to apply for the same
which I eventually did. It was a very close race between becoming homeless and
getting the call that I would be accepted for the housing.

By 1999, at the age of 63, I had a new home, a new
job and life was definitely looking up BUT there would be one more (financial)
failure along the way.