Life is good in 2021. I have a good job I’ve thrived at for over ten years. I’m excelling in my Toastmasters journey. I obtained my Distinguished Toastmaster award, won the Spirit of Toastmasters award, and watched my home club earn Presidents’ Distinguished honors. I launched this blog in late 2019. It’s growing every day and I’m starting to establish myself as a lifestyle and fashion blogger. I’m even including restaurant reviews in it. I just did one on the Jean Bonnet Tavern in Bedford as well as Sun Dawg.
Finally, my love of fashion is taking off. I’m breaking down barriers, feeling proud 🥲, and have become a big fan of Coach 👜 (take that Kate ♠️ and Vera) and pretty soon, ULTA and other cosmetic brands.
But 15 years ago, ask me if I knew what WIS International was. Not a clue. What is Toastmasters? Isn’t that public speaking? No thank you. I didn’t blog in 2006 but I was working on a draft for a book long since put on the back burner. I was a lost soul in 2006, having just graduated from Slippery Rock University without a clue as to what to do with my life. I was directionless, I was in despair and, I became depressed because college was such a heartfelt part of my life and now those days were gone. I had no choice but to enter the real world.
Our story begins in 2005 when I was just a few weeks away from graduating from college at Slippery Rock University with my undergraduate degree in Finance. I had nothing lined up and I just hoped for the best. My grades weren’t perfect but I was doing all right. I finally began to get it right at the end but it was too little too late. 2005 wasn’t just the end of academia but also the end of an era.
I began that transition into the real world in January of 2006. The Steelers were making their Super Bowl run and I was starting my job search. This was just the beginning of a long, lost year for my family and, a long, lost season for me.
We’re just getting started. Hang on to your hats. 2006 has only begun to fight.
My first job came later that month. I was doing telemarketing at Reese Teleservices. It was a racket and it didn’t last long. I lost my job because I told off a caller who was losing his temper. I was also taking civil service exams hoping to land a government job. I took them at the Hiram G. Andrews Center. I was hopeful something would come of this. I’d eventually learn that having a college degree didn’t guarantee success, and that there is no perfect job.
Turn out the lights, the party’s over. That was the theme of Spring 2006. The job search rolled on as Spring was drawing near. I was applying everywhere and going to job interviews every day. It was almost a job in and of itself. I applied for menial work (Walmart, security at the Sony plant, also through temp agencies like Spherion) as well as in my field (Northwestern Mutual comes to mind as well as many companies at that job fair in late May). What a waste of money that suit was for all those interviews.
Meanwhile, at home, things turned ugly as my loved ones began falling ill 🤒. I wasn’t driving and needed to grow up quickly. My parents came down on me over everything that was going on therefore, it was time for me to do my part. The college years as I knew them were officially over.
Great Grandma was sent to St. Anne’s home, and Gram was hospitalized at Forbes Regional Hospital in Monroeville before being transferred to Woodhaven Care Center. She would spend a considerable amount of time there before coming to our house to recover. She would receive long term care during her stay at our house.
I gave telemarketing a second chance when Xentel hired me in March of 2006. While I fared slightly better there than Reese, it ended in disaster. I was fired for lackluster performance and thus, my summer of unemployment would begin.
It’s now official. With no job and no prospects, this was going to be a long, jobless summer. If anything would come out of it, at least I could keep myself busy helping take care of Gram, who was now living with us and receiving long term personal care.
The summer of despair and no direction quickly turned to depression as we lost loved ones in threes. Great Grandma passed away in August. We lost Aunt Nan a few weeks later. My job search was still going nowhere and going back to school was out of the question. However, Gram was improving and got to go “home”. While I was jobless, it really wasn’t a bad summer. I got to go to Fanfest in July and spend time with Gram.
We watched a lot of cooking and quilting shows as well as The View. Maybe things would start to look up (but this was 2006). At the end of August, after the long jobless summer, I began my first day of work at Kings. I was hired a week earlier and aced both interviews. A far cry from a month ago when my pride kept me from applying for any jobs beneath me. Guess that tough love from my parents helped.
Soon after I took the job at Kings, my Gram took a turn for the worst and passed away. It was heartbreaking news to me after she had made progress getting better and even getting the opportunity to go home. The loss was hard on all of us. I really enjoyed getting to spend time with her that summer as it got me through some difficult times.
I also started driving that Fall as well. All I needed was a little experience on the road to get me behind the wheel, which I got one summer morning from a friend of my mother’s who was a state trooper.
Meanwhile, I’d be employed with Kings for the next two years. It was a great job but most of the time I was muddled with negative opinions from coworkers, as well as longing for a job in my field and of course going back to school for a post bac degree. I left Kings after the economy went downhill in 2008 and my hours were cut.
I took a job with WIS International late in 2008 after answering an ad in the Pennysaver. I had an interview and was hired immediately. I’ve held down the job for 12 years and have done an extensive amount of travel because of my job. I joined Toastmasters in 2011 and quickly became a part of it, attending events like the semiannual conferences as well as officer training.
Also in 2008, while attending Greensburg Alliance Church, my pastor introduced me to a guy who would disciple me. While my relationship with Bill fizzled, I’ve gotten to know his now ex-wife and daughters much better. I keep in touch with Paula, Rae, and Sara through social media and they have unofficially adopted me into their family. They always love my posts and Sara and I always wax fashion sense. Here’s me with Sara and her husband Rob at their wedding in May.
All good things must come to an end and that’s what happened in 2017 when the Fall Conference came to an close. It would be replaced by the District 13 Fall Symposium next October. In 2018, I attended my final homecoming at Slippery Rock University (for a while, at least). I regretted missing the first Fall Symposium but I had to find out on my own that one of my longtime traditions was played out. Next year, I attended the Fall Symposium close to home in Greensburg.
I made my Toastmasters comeback in 2019 and finished the requirements for my Distinguished Toastmaster award that Fall. While Sara and I inspire each other with our love of fashion, it was a coworker who helped me pay attention to my style on an overnight trip. Later that year, I launched my blog and even got praise from the Cranberry High Noon Toastmasters club when I made a visit to them right before Christmas.
Even with last year being awash due to Covid, 2021 couldn’t have turned out any better than it has. I’m more fashionable and more confident than I’ve ever been and I’ve put together some bomb outfits as well. Here’s one of them.
That overnight trip when my coworker upstaged me with her cute pink dress really fueled my interest in fashion and style 👗 👠. But then again, Paula and Sara’s encouragement does too.
But the lesson learned in this blog is that….
Everyone Starts Somewhere.
Bye everyone. ❤️ you.
Stylish 🍒 