While at work on another day, I am talking with a client for over an hour, ignoring certain other timely duties. The man tells me later that, because of me, he would not follow through with his plans of suicide. He gives me a small statue of a black man holding a white dove. He tells me I am that dove. I still have that statue to this day. I grow to love my clients.
In twenty-five years I have only one household, a woman and her girlfriend, who complains about me. Fortunately, a young woman trainee is with me at the interview and tells my supervisor I am a gentleman and do nothing wrong. The two women end up disappointed and persist, but in vain. On another occasion, a client stops me in the reception area and calls me aside. She said to be careful as she heard some workers are talking about how they are going to get me fired. The co-workers do not succeed and I never understand their actions; some co-workers continue to harass me and continually talk (of all things) about sexual harassment. Overhearing their conversations, it is plain to see they really know very little about the subject. I do retire after twenty-five years, but it is a very hard last two years. Every night after work, and until I got up the next morning, a struggle for motivation takes place. At work I fasten on my computer a verse from Psalms 6 in the Bible. This verse is about protection from enemies. It seems to work.
One night, sitting for hours alone, feeling empty and broken over the second failed marriage, I tell myself something has to happen that very night. After praying for a miracle I go to my computer one more time bringing up a dating site. I have been talking to one particular woman. Something tells me she is the one. Could this be the miracle I pray for or will it be nothing more than another vain hope? I fight a feeling that I just have too much damage in my life to overcome.
This woman by the name of Oraibi had a troubled childhood, too. As a full-blood Indian she met people in her life that gave her the idea she was somehow beneath them. Feelings like that led to destructive behavior. We both have a strong Christian faith, a faith that is tested. It turns out that it’s more than just making someone connect with another human being that is broken. Yes, she does have emotional baggage as I certainly do. We end up talking for hours over the next few months.
Oraibi was born on the Hopi reservation in Keams Canyon, AZ (a government agency for the BIA). As the youngest of six children, she spent most of her time entertaining herself. No father to say right or wrong. No father in the home since the age of three. Her single mother worked long, hard hours to support the family as a laundress supervisor and later as a dorm mother for Navajo children in boarding schools. The family attended a Christian church and she was one of her mother’s Sunday school students. The Hopi tribe was not accepting of her or her kind-- Christian. She was not accepted by some white families, either. This, of course, meant many hours of being alone and ostracized. After elementary school she attended a Presbyterian Mission School at Ganado, AZ for two years, until she had a scuffle with another girl about jealousy of her cafeteria privileges.
Next for her was to be sent to Holbrook High School. Her mother transferred there in order to be there for her daughter. It was increasingly hard to make friends in two years and in a new school, but she entertained herself by playing piano and participated in many recitals.
When she graduated high school she moved to Phoenix to attend business school under a government grant. However, she was forced to quit so she could support herself, her mother no longer able to give financial support. Not knowing what else to do, and feeling even more alone, she turned to destructive behaviors. She hung out with the rodeo crowd and in bars immersed in country music. Rodeo life was great, but her harmful behaviors grew more and more intense. Many bad decisions and ten years later, she married a deceitful truck driver and they moved to Nebraska to follow his work. She was so unhappy with the move that she cried all the way from Arizona.
She applied and was hired at the Nebraska Power Company. Her best friend’s husband was her supervisor and made sure she was treated equally, even without a degree like all the other engineers. She later retired after thirty-five years there.
In twenty-five years I have only one household, a woman and her girlfriend, who complains about me. Fortunately, a young woman trainee is with me at the interview and tells my supervisor I am a gentleman and do nothing wrong. The two women end up disappointed and persist, but in vain. On another occasion, a client stops me in the reception area and calls me aside. She said to be careful as she heard some workers are talking about how they are going to get me fired. The co-workers do not succeed and I never understand their actions; some co-workers continue to harass me and continually talk (of all things) about sexual harassment. Overhearing their conversations, it is plain to see they really know very little about the subject. I do retire after twenty-five years, but it is a very hard last two years. Every night after work, and until I got up the next morning, a struggle for motivation takes place. At work I fasten on my computer a verse from Psalms 6 in the Bible. This verse is about protection from enemies. It seems to work.
One night, sitting for hours alone, feeling empty and broken over the second failed marriage, I tell myself something has to happen that very night. After praying for a miracle I go to my computer one more time bringing up a dating site. I have been talking to one particular woman. Something tells me she is the one. Could this be the miracle I pray for or will it be nothing more than another vain hope? I fight a feeling that I just have too much damage in my life to overcome.
This woman by the name of Oraibi had a troubled childhood, too. As a full-blood Indian she met people in her life that gave her the idea she was somehow beneath them. Feelings like that led to destructive behavior. We both have a strong Christian faith, a faith that is tested. It turns out that it’s more than just making someone connect with another human being that is broken. Yes, she does have emotional baggage as I certainly do. We end up talking for hours over the next few months.
Oraibi was born on the Hopi reservation in Keams Canyon, AZ (a government agency for the BIA). As the youngest of six children, she spent most of her time entertaining herself. No father to say right or wrong. No father in the home since the age of three. Her single mother worked long, hard hours to support the family as a laundress supervisor and later as a dorm mother for Navajo children in boarding schools. The family attended a Christian church and she was one of her mother’s Sunday school students. The Hopi tribe was not accepting of her or her kind-- Christian. She was not accepted by some white families, either. This, of course, meant many hours of being alone and ostracized. After elementary school she attended a Presbyterian Mission School at Ganado, AZ for two years, until she had a scuffle with another girl about jealousy of her cafeteria privileges.
Next for her was to be sent to Holbrook High School. Her mother transferred there in order to be there for her daughter. It was increasingly hard to make friends in two years and in a new school, but she entertained herself by playing piano and participated in many recitals.
When she graduated high school she moved to Phoenix to attend business school under a government grant. However, she was forced to quit so she could support herself, her mother no longer able to give financial support. Not knowing what else to do, and feeling even more alone, she turned to destructive behaviors. She hung out with the rodeo crowd and in bars immersed in country music. Rodeo life was great, but her harmful behaviors grew more and more intense. Many bad decisions and ten years later, she married a deceitful truck driver and they moved to Nebraska to follow his work. She was so unhappy with the move that she cried all the way from Arizona.
She applied and was hired at the Nebraska Power Company. Her best friend’s husband was her supervisor and made sure she was treated equally, even without a degree like all the other engineers. She later retired after thirty-five years there.