You know there are times when we know down deep in our hearts that a greater power has taken over in our lives. Times when you know that no matter what you do it will be wrong. But then everything you do turns out right.

I have had one of those times very recently. I was about to loose my job because of cut backs in the school system where I was working. I had worked for this school system for twenty-one years. Loving every minute of it too. I loved working with the children and the teachers. I enjoyed teaching children to read. I thought of this as my lives work because it couldn’t have been for the money. My pay was at the top for quite a few years and I would never get another raise. But I didn’t care I just kept on coming back to school every year.

Last year they had a meeting and told us that our jobs were in jeopardy. We had 2 years to either pass a junior college exam or go to college and get a degree. It didn’t matter what the degree was in but it had to be a two-year degree. For the guidelines for our jobs had changed. A high school diploma wasn’t enough any more. And the experience that we had didn’t matter either. They also told us that even if we did either of the later that our pay would not increase.

Well it would have been nice to be able to go to a college and walk right in an pass a test that you hadn’t even studied for or to get a 2 year degree but to never get a raise. And I didn’t think that eight thousand a year was worth all the trouble.

So I decided to go and get a job. Well I am an older person now, not yet at retirement age but only fifteen or so years away. But there had to be a job out there for an older person with some health problems. Right. Well I wasn’t too sure what kind of job I could even hold. At this point I kind of felt hopelessly old.

My hands had been bothering me so I decided to go to the doctor and see about getting them fixed. For I couldn’t hold onto things very well. I made the appointment and talked to the doctor he told me I needed surgery on my hands. Well if I had my hands fixed I could at least find a job that I could use my hands. So I had the first one fixed and then in a month I was to have the other one fixed.

My husband and I decided to go see one of our children out east on our vacation. When my doctor told me I could go on vacation but I had to leave my bandages on my right hand. I just said okay and we took off for the east coast that very day. I drove the car the whole way. We even took our two grandchildren with us on this trip. Boy, you would think they were little angels the way they behaved. They didn’t fight or argue well not until they had gotten tired. I had even booked a hotel for the night half way to our destination. We did have a lot of fun on that trip. It was like we were suppose to go there but I didn’t know why. We had seen our son just a few months earlier. So it wasn’t like we had to go but we did spend a week there and we all had lots of fun.

On my return I was to get my other hand fixed by surgery. So I went to he hospital the week of our return. They did everything like the first time and I was in the surgery room with the doctor doing surgery on my left hand when he asked me what was wrong with my heart. I told him I don’t know what is wrong with it. I felt fine. Nothing that I knew of had ever been wrong with my heart at all. We were talking and laughing while the doctor worked on my hand. But then they got really serious and he told me that something was going wrong with it and when he finished with my hand.

They had me rest in the recovery room all the while the nurses were watching me and taking my blood pressure. The doctor told me that he had gotten a hold of my regular doctor and they had made an appointment with a heart specialist to check my heart. By this time they had really scared me but I wasn’t afraid. Does that make any sense? But I wasn’t.

I had started work at the school again and the heart doctor was giving me all kinds of test on my heart. I still wasn’t to worried but he said I needed to get a heart catherization to see if my arteries around my heart were blocked like my legs were blocked.

I had found out the summer before that my arteries in my legs were clogged and that I had to take medicine to help the blood flow and walk. Because I could only walk one half block before I had to sit down. The pain in my legs was too great to keep going.

  I had started on the medication and I had been doing my walking. I was up to about ten blocks by now. So at least that part was mostly taken care of.

I had the heart catherization done because the doctor said that in at least sixty percent of patients that had clogged arteries in their legs would have clogged arteries around their hearts too.

 Well I just knew that wasn’t true with me. How I knew, I didn’t know but I still wasn’t scared. I had the cath done and I did prove to the doctor that I was in the 40 percent that didn’t have my arteries around my heart blocked.

He was sure that I would have to have surgery on my arteries. That’s why he had me go to a hospital that he could operate on my heart as soon as possible after the test.

 

Through all of this I still felt good very good. Better than I was supposed to. Well I had had my hands fixed, my legs were better and my heart still had the extra beat in it but they can’t find out why.

You would think that God had taken over my life and made things better every time an obstacle had gotten in the way. Well I was to see my heart doctor for a check up so I had stayed off of work that day so my blood pressure would be just fine.

When I got to the doctors office he took my blood pressure and he told me that it was too high. So he asked me a few questions and then he ordered a sleep test for me at the hospital. He said he thought I had sleep apnea. This is where a person stops breathing while they sleep.

Well I went through the test at the hospital believing that I didn’t have any such thing. When I heard from the doctor he told me that I had stopped breathing 89 times in six hours of sleep. He ordered a machine to be brought to my house so that I could use it every time I go to sleep. It keeps the airways open while I sleep.

Well I had done everything that I could to get ready for another job. And then it happened I saw an add in the paper where this factory was taking applications for workers. Well I had to go and apply for it was only one more year that I could work for the schools. And I did need a job.

But a factory, could I do the work? Could I stand because of my legs?

Was my health good enough for them? Could I pass the test they would give to us?

I hadn’t applied for a job in 21 years. Was I what they were looking for? Well I did go to the site for the applications. I was called for a test and interview. I was asked to take a drug test. And I was hired.

 After three days of classes at this new job. It finally soaked in I had gotten the job. And it was a job that I could do. I called it my old lady job. It was perfect for my health problems and me. I could sit down and do this job. And the insurance didn’t even have a preexisting condition clause.

I now have worked there almost 6 years with no regrets. It is a good job I can do and I make twice the money as I used too. Maybe even more for I have made that now and it isn’t even the end of the year. I still have five more months to go before the end of the year. I have made lots of friends at my new employment too. They have even voted me in as scheduler of our lines. This has made me happy.

Through all of this ordeal I always felt calm and serene. I did pray to God for everything to work out. But I didn’t think it would be like this.

 I feel at home here and I still teach. I have taught my fellow worker how to use the computers that we must use. I have also been told I now have diabetes. Another trial but not to worry. It is under control.

 So you see it feels like this was all suppose to be. You know, Gods plan for me.