The Beginning
Mother Nature has been my greatest teacher since October 28, 1984. That was the day my healing started, and my financial career seeded.
It wasn't a very good year for me before that date. School wasn't going well. I got my first "D" in one of my computer science clasess. Earlier in the year I'd been date raped by a man I thought was my closest friend. I was very depressed and at 24 years old I was lost and hopeless.
That was not so when I was 21 years old! I'd just arrived back in Oregon from Tucson, Arizona where I attended UofA for a year. I was happy to be home and back at Portland State University studying math and computer science. At that time life seemed good and I had an unusual, burning desire. I wanted to fight forest fires! for real! I don't know where the desire came from but it was strong. My coworkers and friends thought I was crazy. "You won't last a minute in that heat", one co-worker said.
So, for the next three years I dreamed of fighting forest fires while trying my hardest to finish my degree and figure out what I wanted out of life. But the life I had thus far created seemed more and more out of sink with my soul. What was I going to do with a Computer Science degree? At that time PC's and Windows didn't exist. Was I going to be a thick glasses geek that didn't know how to talk to people?
Well the "D" in one my computer theory class clinched it. If I didn't have the smarts to finish my computer science degree then there was no reason to waste more money on college. With 7 classes left in my degree program, I quit school! That was spring 1984.
That summer I decided to go for my dream...fight forest fires. I was strong and in shape because I ran track and x-country at school. So, I applied for a fire crew job with the US Forest Service and waited...and waited...and waited. I waited all summer! Fed up with waiting I drove to the Zig Zag Ranger Station on Mt Hood and managed to talk with the Hot Shot Crew Superintendent, Paul Gleason. He told me I need to have some fire fighting experience before he could hire me.Ok, I thought. Now I know where I stand and what I have to do. For the first time since I left home at 15 years old, I felt in my belly that my life had direction and meaning. I was going to be a member of the Zig Zag Hot Shot Crew, so I had to get some experience.
But until I could figure out where I would get that experience I needed a job. In September, I packed a duffel bag of clothes and incidentals and drove to Mt. Hood and got hired to work on the Ski Lift crew for that coming winter. My new supervisor said I could stay with her until I found a place to rent. So on October 28, 1984 I moved to Rhododendron at Mt. Hood, Oregon. That night it snowed 2 1/2 feet. My healing and my new career had begun.