Health, Wealth and Happiness

Alright. The divorce. I will NOT dwell on that. I am a Christian and it totally surprised me that my bride went off the deep end and got involved heavily in drugs. She just checked out. She MAY now be sober. She deserves our prayers and has battled her demons.

Room mates. I will condense this because I feel that I have at least two chapters in a future book on this topic. My one room mate was a cool guy, but one night he ’snapped.’ Now that is not the medical term I am sure. Remember there are no letters behind my name. But it happened. He became scattered, hostile, threatening, really out of control.

The other room mate helped me deal with the first one. But he was a handful himself. He thought he was an reincarnation of Jesus, yes he did. He thought that when he went through an emotional experience in Western Canada once(many seem to think they are saved at that moment) that he, in fact became Jesus.

On top of that he was running for president. Yeah really. The only thing he had going for him in that illusion was that it truly was 2004 and there really was an election going on.

These two guys were rooming with me at the same time. The first one went nuts and I had to get a restraining order on him the night we changed the locks

The other one just up and left after that incident, but while he was there he paid me handsomely for editing his story. Once he talked me into it, I took a real liking to the project.

Bad finances. I spent more that I made. I made some big mistakes. I refinanced after being convinced that my home was worth more than it really was. I was not financially healthy at all.

My first wife and I bought the condo when we were married and the deal was, when she left, she took most of the stuff and I got the condo. Not such a bad deal, but I never took the time or the money to keep up the basic repairs. It was ugly, with one bathroom torn up, and other things needing paint, nails, cleaning or major overhaul. I owed 97K and it was worth 81K.

My job. I was passed by by technology according to my boss. He told me gently, roughly, rudely, and in attempts to shock and embarrass. I listened, it went in one ear and out the other. My production declined, my pay did too, of course. The company changed the deal for us as well. Many of us know that when they change the deal, they give you LESS money, not more. Guess what? Now that I am spending my time on the phone every day, I figured out that my boss was right in his criticism. We keep living, we keep learning hopefully.

I slept too little and it was ruined by worries and caffeine among other fears and situations.

My diet. The biggest and easiest to identify, in retrospect. Everything was wrong. Too much red meat, bratwurst, cheese, eggs, pizza and more. I really overdid it. Also, I drank Pepsi and Mountain Dew like there was no tomorrow. There came a time where that almost happened.

No fruit, and few vegetables also.

Combine that with the no exercise, the stress, some good old-fashioned despair, and now you can see my situation. Also, I could be a victim with the best of them. All in all, I was a train-wreck waiting for a place to happen.

The event itself is another story. Let’s just say that I was in the right place, at the right time, and made the right decisions, even under the effects of the heart attack.

Milwaukee Wisconsin’s finest cardiologist was on duty. Dr. Frank Cummins saved my life with an agressive cardio-catherization, just 64 minutes after the onset of the incident. In heart surgery, agressive is good. In rushhour traffic-agressive is bad. (In case you were wondering.)

Now, what has changed, and why am I grateful?  See Part 3.

Thank God I …Triumph Through Tragedy    http://www.thankgodi.com/cmd.php?Clk=4313438

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