I
sat down and wrote everyone asking if I could borrow some money and
that I would pay it back as soon as I could. I was in financial trouble,
out of work 5 months and that my savings have dried up and that if I
didn’t pay my rent by August 1 eviction proceedings would start and I
could possibly end up sleeping in my car. All in all I got about $4,950
which certainly helped. It would be 8 and ½ months before I would work
again and that money saw me through.

It was strange who responded
by sending me money and who didn’t. The biggest surprise was a check
from Clyde for $1,500--I only knew him from the Wednesday afternoon
parties where we would exchange a few pleasantries but that was it. I
did make a list of all who sent me money and I got checks from $25 up to
that one for $1,500 and, within time, I did pay everyone back. I will
always be grateful to each of them for their help plus the ones who
didn’t have any money to send me but wish they did.

Between my
being broke, Tom’s death, the phone phobia and being out of work for
over 8 months 1994 was a pretty rough year so when I got a job at the
Hilton Hotel on Griffith Road near 1-95 on November 14 I was very happy!
I was working on Thanksgiving Day and by 1995 I was back on my feet. In
March I got a tax refund of $279.21 I left the Hilton to go to work at
Todd’s which had been Wag’s where I had made money because it was a good
location. In October they announced that they were being sold to
Denny’s and my immediate thought was to get another job but I didn’t.

All
in all 1995 wasn’t a bad year but I still hadn’t changed the habits
that had lead me to bankruptcy in 1992--I was still going out to eat,
going to the theatre and movies--still picking up checks when I didn’t
have to--and then between my teeth and car I was charging the costs on
my credit cards which I knew wasn’t a smart thing to do.

I had a
feeling the second half of the 1990s was going to be a good one--hey in
1996 I would have my 15th Leap Year birthday how could it be bad?