It's been a long time

This is the story of a man. The story of a man who has no idea where his life is going. This man's name is Michael. Michael once had a dream. It was a wonderful dream full of everything his heart ever desired.

Let's start back in his early years. As a young child Michael was blessed mentally and physically. As a child in school he always earned and received an A in every class. Michael also played football and baseball. He took piano lessons and was a gifted singer. He was a very well rounded child and enjoyed all of it.

Michael was everything that his parents could ever have hoped for, at least in a boy. His parents loved him and tried to give him everything that he needed and as much of wanted he wanted as they could afford. His parents were not rich but they were better off than the average family. Michael loved his parents and wanted to do great for himself and for them.

Around the age of 11 all of that began to change for Michael. The money started to get tight and life seemed to be getting harder. His parents began to fight on a regular basis. He wasn't as good at baseball and could no longer hit the ball, much less hit a home run. It started to seem that a B or a C was as good as an A if it didn't require doing homework. It was the beginning of the new life that he would adopt.

No longer would he strive to make sure that he was the best at everything. No longer would he strive to make everyone else happy before himself. No longer would he put his family before his personal happiness. What had it gotten him so far?

Michael realized that it was okay to be normal. Not only was it okay, it was easy. Everything was easier when you weren't always trying to be the best. When your life isn't a competition you have more time for friends and having fun. What a great change this was.

For the next ten years everything seemed easy for Michael. He graduated from high school. He took a summer job making okay money that gave him the opportunity to travel around the country. At the end of the summer they offered him more money to stay with the company and keeping working. Life was good and it continued this way for a few more years.

But one day Michael woke up and realized that he didn't have any friends. He was making great money but what good was it to drive a Porsche when there was no one to be impressed by it. Michael began to hate his job and wanted a new life. But what could he do? He graduated from high school but he didn't go to college? What choice did he have but to keep working.

Michael had built up a nice credit card debt and a huge car payment. Now he was trapped in a life that wasn't his own. He belong to his company and to his creditors. How would he ever make things right and get his life back?

After months of long, hard personal debate he decided that it was time to sell the car and find his life again. But since he also had credit cards he couldn't afford to go to school. He moved back home with his parents and found a job making a little more than minimum wage. This continued for another year or so until he finally found someone that could help him change his life. And what better way to prove it than to quit his job and move to Boston to be with her.

No, Michael didn't have a job in Boston. He didn't have a place to stay. On top of that he had about $1000 to his name, and that was before his thousands of dollars in credit card debt and his $289 Honda Civic payment. But this was the person that he had been waiting for his entire life. What choice did he have. She was going to be in Boston for the summer and so was he.

Lucky for him everything worked out in Boston and she eventually decided that she would marry him. If only she had known what she was getting into. His new bride was still in her senior year of college and was accumulating student loans. But they didn't need money because they had love and that would be enough. But what else did they need? A new baby! Everybody needs a daughter. And since they already had one child why not make it three children in four years?

Each year life seemed to get a little bit easier. Michael found a job and received decent raises at each review. After being married a couple years they bought a small starter home in a not so nice neighborhood but it was theirs. It sure was, now they had credit card debt, a car payment, student loans and a huge mortgage note. They were living the American dream.

But neither one of them was happy. Michael hated his jobs. Both of them hated the neighborhood they lived in. Since they had three kids Michael was working two jobs just so they could make all of the minimum payments each month. And every month they moved a little bit further in debt.

All of a sudden everything changed. Michael got laid off from his job. Luckily they had started putting away money so that if he decided to quit his job they would be able to live long enough to find a new job. His wife had to go out and find a part time job and Michael began picking up work anywhere that he could get it. That went on for three months and he finally found a job making $13,000 less per year than the job he had been laid off from. But atleast it was a constant income.

From there things started turning around. After a couple months he found a job that paid more money so he took it. He continued to do side jobs here and there to be able to pay the bills. One day he was doing some work for his wife's boss and they started talking about houses. Michael talked about how much he hated the neighborhood he was in and how he wished that he could afford to move somewhere nicer. And the owner of the business offered to sell him his house at a discount because he was moving out of the country.

Michael knew that there was no way that they could even afford the discounted price but he was so desperate to get out of the old neighborhood that he convinced his wife to look at the house. It was beautiful. It was one thousand square feet bigger than their old house and the neighborhood was great. How could they not take it. Especially when the owner of the house offered to let them rent the new house while they tried to sell the old house. Everything seemed perfect.

After three months they were making two house payments and things were really tight. Michael was working 40 hours at his first job and then trying to pick up as many hours of side work that he could. And then it happened. His wife found something that would change their lives forever. She found a book that talked about getting out of debt.

Now don't be sucked in to all of this. Michael really questioned what she was thinking when she said that it would only cost $9.95 per month to be constantly motivated and to have access to all of the archives and motivating talks every day. But this was his wife and he knew better than to try and fight with her when she had her mind made up.

Somehow they managed to make two house payments, feed the family, and began to start paying off the debts. They were able to go from five credit cards down to one. And they didn't even make any new charges on that one credit card. They were finally starting to see that they could one day be debt free until one day Michael came home and told his wife that there was a ninety percent chance that his department was going to be outsourced withing the next six weeks.

There went the dream. There went everything that they had been hoping for and working for. How could they afford their old house, much less their new house that was more than twice as expensive as the old one? That is the eternal question. If you know the answer please let me know because I am Michael and that's where I'm at right now.