# A very touching experience in Public School



## romysbaskets (Aug 29, 2009)

I grew up going to several public schools but I loved school! I had a harder life and going to school was a refuge to me not unlike my Grandparents farm. I excelled in school and it was an escape I readily embraced. 

One day things went over the top with our Father during the break up of yet another marriage. There were reasons of a safety concern which catapulted me out on my own at 16 with my sister. My savings I worked for were taken, I had not a penny to my name but I had a full time job. The first help I received was from a blessed lady who my Father had briefly dated. She allowed me to stay with her for the first two weeks and when I got paid I recall I gave her $140 which she tearfully accepted. She had little money herself but her help had been a life line at that time and she totally deserved it. Then I found a place with the help of my sister's boyfriends Father. He actually co signed for our first apartment but my sister didn't stay, she moved right back out. I was really alone at that point and that first Christmas. The winter was especially cold that year and I could not afford the heat. I went to sleep in a sunken mattress on the floor fully dressed in a coat as well. You could see my breath as clouds in the air. I was working a low paying job and going to school. Without the ability to share the rent, I could barely afford food. My boss began giving me the left overs that they normally threw away. 

Public school kindness came that lonely first Christmas. I confided in the counselors at school about my situation. They kept my secret so I could finish high school on my own and they gifted me a turkey with $200 for Christmas. This was an amazing gift for me at that time, it was half my rent. Not only did I get to finish high school, the principal allowed me to graduate early at 17 since I was loaded with credits from taking extra classes. Instead of having to go to a foster home or deal with the uncertainty of having any free choice taken away...I was handed the biggest gift of all....the compassion my counselors had in keeping my secret allowed me the freedom to be happy and live on my own! I never missed a day of school until I graduated.


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## MidwestMatthew (Mar 12, 2016)

Approximately when was this?


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## CountryMom22 (Nov 27, 2014)

That's the way things should be. Today, I don't think this would be possible, unfortunately. Good on those people who helped you.


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## po boy (Jul 12, 2010)

Way to go!!!


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## romysbaskets (Aug 29, 2009)

MidwestMatthew said:


> Approximately when was this?


I graduated and walked with my class from Natrona County High School in Casper, Wyoming in 1982 officially. Although I was out of high school in Dec of 1981. 



CountryMom22 said:


> That's the way things should be. Today, I don't think this would be possible, unfortunately. Good on those people who helped you.


I was very fortunate, this I know! Even back then, had the authorities knew I was alone at 16, they could have taken me into foster care. That is what I was told but fortunately I had good people like the counselors I could talk to. Even a teacher who I confided in asked me to speak in front of his class on my experience. He wanted the other students to know it isn't easy and to appreciate their homes. I graduated with honors with a nearly straight A transcript. 



po boy said:


> Way to go!!!


Thank you! It could have gone a very different direction. I worked very hard and people kept my secret for me.


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