So, what do I do now?

I have to say that losing my career was a tough blow. I remember walking out with a big box of the rest of my personal items alone that last day. The thought on my minds was, "Well, what am I going to do now?

My original plan upon retiring was to go teach Law Enforcement at a local college or anywhere as I had been teaching two different classes already for the Department as well as at a local Junior College. I knew that I needed to stay active and moving since they said that exercise and staying moving was the best way to slow Parkinsons. So, I decided that I could be a substitute teacher at the local high schools. While I was in the process of completing the paperwork and jumping through the hoops, I drove for Uber for about three months. I have always enjoyed driving; however, by the time you factor in gas and wear and tear on your vehicle, I was lucky to break even.

Finally I started as a substitute teacher and let me tell you! The kids know that they are basically untouchable, and they act like it. Usually it had good classes, but the bad ones more than made up for it. Hats off to all you teachers out there! On more then one occasion I found myself dealing some little shit that thought he was a badass gangster and I remember thinking to myself, "A different time and a different day ago I would have already delt with you!" I knew that even if I put them in check verbally, I would still probably get fired hahaha! I remember on little kids had taken a protractor out of his classroom and was using it to etch graffiti into the lockers in gym class. When I told him to stop and give it to me he refused, so before he could even think about showboating in front of his gathered little pack of friends I quickly stepped up, snatched it out of his hands. OODA-Loop, the bodies ability to act or react. If you know you know!

After about two years of being a Sub. I had had enough. Plus my Parkinsons had really stepped on the gas and was getting worse. I was now starting to have issues with my everyday speech and I was moving very rigidly. The kids in the class were starting to ask why I moved like that and what was going on. Also the medication I was taking would give me the sudden "Bubble-Guts." I don't know if you have ever had sudden diarrhea but sitting in a classroom full of hormone raging teenagers waiting for a campus supervisor to show up and hoping they (or you) make it in time REALLY sucks.

Luckily I would later get an extended-release version of my medication which solved that problem thank God! I thought again, what do I do now? Eventually I heard about being a process server and I kinda thought, well for most of my career I went to peoples houses and either searched them or arrested them, so, I figured I could do the same except I would be serving Court documents instead. Also, I became a Public Notary, however that notary side of business was short lived. I had no idea that Prarkinsons would make my already poor penmanship basically unreadable! Not because of shaking, but because my writing would (and still does) go from small to smaller, to basically scribbles because my hand will no longer behave correctly. It's kinda hard to sign papers when you cant sign your own name.

But then I had a light inside my tunnel of darkness. I was hoping it wasn't a train finally coming down the tracks, but instead a new lease on my body. I know it sounds odd to say, but that is exactly what I was needing, a lease on my body.

Deep Brain Stimulation, D.B.S.