Comments About Current Life/ Status/ Occupation:
Life for me has not exactly gone the way I had envisioned. After graduating from Cal, and then spending three years in Washington, D.C. working for the NFL Players Association, I went to law school at the University of Texas at Austin, at which point, in 1997, I was diagnosed with Cushing's Disease, operated on in January of 1998, and within two years was placed on permanent medical disability with Social Security, and have never worked or had a home of my own since 2000. However, while this disease is supposed to be fatal, I am the only known survivor (it is a very rare disease, though), and while it took several years, up until around 2007 or so, I either was in the ER, at home in a bed, or reading a book (literally!) While I get a small check from the govt. every month (it doesn't even cover the costs of all the medication I have to take), my family has really opened up their doors for me, and I am not depressed or mad or frustrated any more. I have come to love life and I try to "Carpe Diem" as much as possible, b/c while I have lived for 14 years with no pituitary gland (also called the Master Gland - controls every hormone in one's body), I am content, as healthy as I can be, and grateful to God for giving me a chance to do something (I'm not sure what it is just yet, unfortunately) for others. I have also come to realize that $ is a truly evil (I know, I know - it's a necessary one) entity. But, once you get over worrying about money and begin to just enjoy every moment that you spend with your family and friends, life is good. Money makes people act differently, especially amongst friends. If you don't have any money, you usually don't have any friends (at least not any that help you, which leads to the loss of that friendship.) I am perfectly happy being with friends who have money while I do not - it doesn't bother me - but it does bother the friend, b/c everything that we do in this life costs something (well, almost everything), and if they feel as if they have to pay for you (which is something that I do not like either - I am not and will never be someone that wants others' pity) they get all uncomfortable, do it maybe once or twice, but then you never hear from them again. If someone wants to help me b/c they care about me and know that if the roles were reversed, I would leap at the chance to help them, then I feel that is acceptable. But you can be friends without having money ever entering the picture - take a walk together, play some frisbee, talk about any subject that interests you, etc. I have a couple of friends by that definition, but I still consider everybody that I have known before 1997 and met over the last fifteen years a friend. To me, money is merely a way to stay alive. I have come to accept God, which has in turn led me to accept who I am and what I have gone through, and to always try and be a good person to everyone. Life is nothing without people who are close to you. So, while sometimes things might not be going exactly the way you wanted them to, just relax, look around at what you do have and not at what you don't, accept it, and move on, then I guarantee you that once you have stopped worrying about money, you will be happy. As long as you hold on to HOPE, you, your family, your friends - you will be okay. Never give up, never give in, and always be true to yourself, and you will find the treasure at the end of the rainbow.
