About a month past, it was now late April. I managed to bring all my grades up to As and Bs. Buck's 19th birthday was the first of April and I did give him a small something, a wooden display case with photos of him playing football, in his turnout gear, and his ROTC uniform. CJ advised me not to give it to him but it was something I had for him for our 8 month anniversary but hadn't given to him because of the break up three days before the occasion.
With the boys' birthdays both being in May I'd been working more hours at the mill and was absolutely dead at school. Staying at work till 2am then getting up at 6:30am for school was really putting a toll on me, physically and mentally.
I honestly need a break but I'm not sure if I can get it. Bills have to be paid and Mom is terrible with money.
One afternoon Mr. Cruz pulled me aside during fourth period. "Jolon I may have an opportunity for you. Quesenberry Inc. is looking for construction leads and asked if I'd recommend any of my upcoming graduates. I know you've got several certifications from my class and a couple from Sawyer's agriculture classes. With your home situation, I think it would truly help your future," he said.
"Well sir, I would love to get away from the mill and Quesenberry is where my daddy worked as a machine operator and mechanic for 15 years. I know they have good benefits and pay. What do I need to do?" I asked.
"Fill out a résumé, print copies of your certificates, and call this number between 8am and 9pm. Make sure you talk it over with your mom but I really think you should do this. I'm in your corner little lady," Cruz handed me a sticky note with a number scribbled on it. "Sawyer and I already agreed to be references for you and I have the information you need for it."
"Thank you Cruz."
"Now the job won't start until after graduation on May 28th."
"That's fine," I smiled.
I began working on my résumé on the school desktop. I started with my contact information: email, phone number, address. Next my job references: odd jobs on my sister-in-law's mother's farm in Harlan, work with the fire department for five years, and Curtis Russel Lumber for the past two years. Then onto my list of certificates from school and the ones I'd gained at the fire department with Daddy:
* NCCER Certification
* OSHA Certification
* CTE certification
* PLTW Certification
* Green hand degree
* American FFA Degree
* Certified Welder
* Land Conservation Certification
* Animal Science Certification
* First Aid Certification
* CPR Certification
* Junior Firefighter Certification
Then a list of my accomplishments in school activities:
* 1st place Tool ID Skills USA
* 1st place Job Interview FFA
* 1st place in National Young Writers contest
* 34 on ACT
I finished it off with references of Cruz, Sawyer, and DeeDee, my late sister-in-law's mother.
When the bell rang I rushed to tell CJ about the opportunity that was being offered to me.
"That's incredible Ash," CJ said. "Are you gonna keep working at the mill till then?"
"Actually I'm debating taking a month off. I'm gonna crunch some numbers and see if we could live off mom's salary and my savings for a month. I think we can," I said writing in my notebook working out the math.
"You deserve a month off. You're killing your self working all the time."
"Yeah."
My part of the bills was my truck insurance ($150), the internet ($60), and the phone bills ($95). So my portion of the bills is normally around $305 plus gas for my truck. General bills for the house are electric ($245), water ($45), and groceries/feed cost/necessities ($365 after the WIC for the boys). Thankfully the house is paid off so that helps the total not be as high. That's $865 in total house bills plus two tank fill ups for Mom's Jeep and my F150, which is around $326.
