Milestones

I will be the first one to admit that when I started as a free lancer for the Telegraph, I did it for all the wrong reasons.
Some seven years ago, we had two kids in a private school and the bills just were not quite adding up like we needed them to do. After all we were paying out over 20,000 dollars a year just for them to go to high school.
So without me barely knowing it, my wife Debbie went out and got a job at Kroger. Now Debbie has the more lucrative career when it comes to money, and she was obviously bringing in her fair share of the money for the family. If anyone needed to get a second job, it would have been John. But I was not quite getting the message at that time.
With Debbie working a full time job and also at Kroger for another 20 to 25 hours, it put me in an awkward position. What was I supposed to do with the kids on a Friday  night if they wanted to go out and eat ? I mean I could say lets go , but hmm my wife was working a second job and I was taking the kids out to eat , which probably costs more than what she is making in her four hours of work. I really was in a no win situation here.
After a few months, I started to figure things out. Debbie would never ever come to me and tell me that I needed to get a part time job, but maybe she would hint at it.  But I was probably good at ignoring the hints. There wasn't one specific things that happened to let me know it was time for me to step out, but maybe it was divine intervention.
After my wife left for work one day and screeched the car out of the driveway, I noticed that she had not even cooked dinner for the family before she left for her second job. After all it was a Friday night and we needed to eat. So after I cooked dinner, (fries and burgers) I went to sit down and read the paper, and there it was. God was telling me right there that I needed to work. It was an add in the sports section advertising for a deadline sports writer for the Telegraph. I proudly applied and let my wife know immediately that I was actually applying for another job.
I remember I had to write a story from information I was given and turn it in, and that is how I got hired. At first it was pretty much once a week for football games, and then when  Daniel Shirley, the sports editor, found out I was reliable, he started giving me a little bit more. Not only did it keep peace in my house, it gave me a hobby that I actually enjoyed.
That was seven years ago. Over the years, I think Daniel had realized that I wont turn him down too often for a story, and that is my strongest gift. Am I a good writer ? I think I am decent. Am I a good grammatical writer? Hell No, and I am sure this constantly frustrates my boss. I haven't taken an English class in 35 years and I am sure that at times he wants to just tear my stuff up. But I am thankful that he doesn't and I try very hard to make my story some what error free. However, that probably never happens.
Through the years, I have interviewed Bobby Bowden, George Gervin, Russell Henley, Demaryius Thomas, Kareem Jackson, Cole Miller, Jaime Kaplan, Sharone Wright, and pretty much every high school and college coach in the area. Now how lucky am I to have a part time job like this. I love being someone that all the coaches and most of the players know and trust to a certain extent. Deadline writing can be difficult, but how lucky am I to be able to do something like this.
This week I found out that I will be getting to do something that I have wanted to do for the last seven years. The "real" Telegraph writers all do football picks in the newspaper with their little head shots above the picks and I am going to get to do that  this year. I know its stupid, but its almost like a dream come true for me. I love that my picks will be right out there for everyone to see, and I hope you will follow me and see how it goes. I think I know high school and college sports, but I guess now we will see.  I know its all for fun, but obviously I don't want to embarrass myself.
So in closing, my part time job that I did because my wife was too nice to complain about me sitting on my ass while she worked a second job has turned out to be a godsend for me. My wife hasn't worked at Kroger for 5 years or so, but don't worry, I wont hold that against her. As long as she had dinner cooked :)