Debt Valley.  Since I’ve been single this is the valley I’ve often been plunged into, always beyond my control.  I’m not a credit card user or frivolous spender.  It’s circumstances which send me down into this valley, struggling all the time to get out of it.  While raising my children as a widow, I’ve often been put with collection agencies because of illness, surgeries, and accidents of my kids and myself.  The medical bills piled up.  After my children were grown, Debt Valley continued due to medical retirement, increasing costs of prescriptions and medical insurance, and the general cost of living.

Financial difficulties bring me down, get me frustrated.  I like to work and pay my bills, and when I can’t, I feel tense and helpless.  In 1987 I filed bankruptcy although I fought against doing so.  By the time I gathered up all my bills and went to see an attorney, humiliated and embarrassed, he assured me there was no need to feel that way.  He went through the bills and concluded I had done the best I could while raising a large family, and encouraged me to give myself a new start by filing the bankruptcy.  I was starting a new job and could begin anew without all the debt baggage I had been carrying around.  I had a hard time accepting this idea, but I had no choice.  I filed for bankruptcy.

©Pat Montesano 2008 All Rights Reserved.