After filing for bankruptcy, our lives turned around.  We had been drowning in medical debt, housing debt, and credit card debt.  After being forced to quit work because of a disability, we couldn’t keep up with the payments. After a few years of struggling, we made the difficult decision to file for bankruptcy.  We were so nervous going in. We felt like complete failures and horrible that we didn't know any other way out. We came out of the attorney's office completely different.  We had a sense of relief after speaking with him. We hadn't used our credit cards in over a year and based on our income, we couldn't even pay the basics. He helped us understand that we really did try and that the bankruptcy system existed for people in our situation. It was a difficult process, but we made it through. We struggled for several years with a bad credit rating, but even that changed with our patience and dedication. Not everyone needs to file for bankruptcy, but some families do and that is why the system is there. Thankfully, we overcame our obstacles and are more prepared now that we learned and are learning what credit means and how to use it properly.

I have been teaching as a substitute teacher for more than six years now. I graduated teaching school and got my teaching license; I thought that after that, I would not have to worry about being qualified for any teaching jobs that came my way. After bankruptcy, it is going to be very difficult to get back into teaching. Apparently, the educational department of Chicago ran a teaching license recall that I was not informed of. When I was assigned to my next teaching job and teaching licenses were checked, mine was found invalid. I lost all teaching privileges for two years and have to pay a one thousand dollar fine. I have no job now and have to file for bankruptcy. After bankruptcy, no one will be willing to hire me, even if I renew my teaching license. No reputable school district will want to hire a substitute that got their license taken away and recently emerged from bankruptcy. A school district would much rather hire a reputable substitute that received the notice to renew their teaching license. It doesn’t even make any sense that my license was taken away. The district of education could have sent me a letter warning me of a license recall or something of the sort. I had no way to know that a license recall was going to happen.

Lately the school board that I fundraise for is not doing so well. We are forced to declare bankruptcy. My partner and I have spent the past few days meeting with bankruptcy lawyers, one after the other. Many people are devastated about the situation and want to take us to court. Our only hope in walking away guilt free is if we have a top-notch lawyer. After running from one office to the next we finally think we have found the right guy. I feel horrible leaving so many people jobless and so many students with out an education but sometimes one has to do things that are not so pleasant. My wife and children try to be supportive by constantly letting me know that I am not a horrible humane being for doing what I did. Last night my wife surprised me with my favorite dinner; I am extremely grateful to her for her support but am still a bit in the dumps. The day of the court case is slowly approaching. Hopefully the deal I closed yesterday with the lawyer was good enough to motivate him to do a fantastic job. I still have some hope that this whole nightmare will end and I will come out with a lot more then just a night job in the local corner store.

For four years I struggled my way through college in hopes that a degree would guarantee me a solid, well paying career, but the last two years of my path to success have looked more like a game of musical chairs, bouncing from one entry level job to another feeling like I would never find a decent gig.  Now, nearly a hundred thousand dollars in debt later, with the overdue notices starting to build up on my end table, it looks like I’ll be filing for bankruptcy in order to help me out from under the mountain of student loans.  It isn’t as if I’m going to get a free education out of all this, I still have to pay back every penny, but filing for chapter 13 bankruptcy is going to help reorganize all my loans into one payment that I’ll be able to afford on my entry level salary.  What it really means is that I’ll actually be able to put something toward the loans every month and still have enough money left over to avoid getting evicted from my studio apartment and keep the cupboard stocked with tuna fish and peanut butter while I wait however long it takes to start making some money.

It was only yesterday that my entire school, consisting of seventy girls, went on a large white yacht. We had a blast, and as we looked out from to top deck of the boat out to the beautiful scenery around us, the captain told us little tidbits about the gorgeous houses that were on either side of the lake.  One short story that Captain Stern told us was about a man named Frederick who lived in a massive mansion only twenty feet away from us. He unfortunately had to file for bankruptcy, and that was the end to his rich and comfortable life. It was in the 1970’s, when inventions were so very new and exciting to the entire world. This man, Frederick was convinced that he could make hair grow on a bald man’s head. As hard as he tried, he could still not make hairless men hairy again. Even with all of the money he was getting from the bald men, and surely he was getting money left and right, he could not succeed. To his dismay, the federation of the Pompano County clamped down on him, and his failures cost him dearly.  That was the end to his magnificent life, one of luxury and success. Even though his home cost an insuperable sum of money, millions in fact, an even richer man bought his mansion only days afterwards.

A class I took my senior year of college was aimed towards preparing students for the real world.  I took it because I thought it would be easy, and I only needed the one credit to graduate.  The class discussed many different topics, including how to save money, so you do not end up in bankruptcy.  We talked about saving money for our future, how to do so wisely, and how to stay out of credit debt.  It also discussed job search strategies, and etiquette for an interview.  We even did mock interviews one day, and we had to dress up in a suit and go in and participate in a group style interview.  Our teacher graded our responses, and gave us feedback on how we did.  It was a fun way to learn a skill that I have found very useful since then.  We also did some other things that were pretty simple and obvious, but some kids in my class did not know how to do, like balancing a checkbook.  My teacher managed to make even the most tedious and boring of lessons entertaining, and I never really minded having to go to class.  I think every college senior should have to take a class like that.

Finally, FINALLY, I’ve passed the bar.  I’ve worked years and years for this and, believe me, law school wasn’t easy.  But now I’m actually a lawyer and I already know what kind of law I want to practice.  My uncle knows a guy who knows a guy and I’ve got a job as a bankruptcy attorney waiting for me.  It’s going to be great.  Yeah, it’s not the most exciting job in the world.  In fact, it’s not even the most exciting kind of lawyer you could be.  But I don’t mind.  Not at all.  No, sir.  Sure, as a bankruptcy attorney, I’ll be faced with a lot of paperwork and facts and figures and I’ll have to talk with a lot of money who are desperate for money or people who didn’t know any better and that’s how they lost all their money.  But someone has to do the job and someone has to deal with people when they get like that.  Actually, we all eventually have to deal with someone like that anyway.  I’ll just be getting a lot of money for that and that makes it all worth it.  I’ll finally be able to pay for all the things that I didn’t have when I was a kid.  A big screen TV, air conditioning, cable satellite TV, HBO, and so much more.  It’s going to be great. 

We didn't know where to start, so we decided to get a bankruptcy overview.  We needed to learn everything we could about the process.  We wanted to do this before going to the lawyers.  We wanted to have some knowledge about the process.  There is plenty of information about bankruptcy on line and in books and with government agencies. It was important to us that we know the right choice to make.  Our goal is to keep the house and the car and some personal items.  This shouldn't be too hard.  We did some reading and decided on the chapter filling that we wanted to do.  The next step is to go to the lawyer and see if he agrees.  When we went we found out that we had accessed our situation correctly, and that we had decided correctly on the right filing.  All that remained to do was to get it done and get started on a new life.  Both of us were disappointed of course by having to do this, but we really had no choice.  We wanted to cut our losses and we want to pay back the people we owe.  It's only fair. It might take the next 15 years to do it, but we promised that we would pay back everybody we owed.

I am so bored. I mean I am so bored. I didn’t realize boredom so deep and overwhelmingly profound actually existed. It’s like all waters of the pacific are sitting right on top of me, their sapphire blue turned to inky impenetrable black. It  is Sunday afternoon and I have done nothing all day. I mean absolutely nothing, well unless you can call eating corn flakes doing something, or grooming between you toes. I even randomly read though our encyclopedia reading about Bat’s and Bankruptcy laws – it was the ‘B’ volume. There is no around to hang out with, it happens to be about 10 degrees outside and nowhere to go. I have novels to read, lots of them, for the second time. I could play on the computer, there’s always you tube, games but the computer is dead. My mom just sent it out to be repaired.  I had the bright idea to draw, that didn’t last very long, mostly because I can’t. That’s like the only thing I failed in kindergarten, kind of sad. Then I went for poetry but I couldn’t get past the violets are blue part.  There’s always a good old nap, but that’s sort of hard when you’re not tired. So I find myself back at the encyclopedia who knows maybe there something interesting in ‘Z.’

I have been attending parenting classes recently. I find them extremely helpful and informative. It helps me to be a much calmer and fulfilled mother. The teacher of the class is a Registered Nurse and has access to all these wonderful parenting sources. Books, tapes and videos. I have borrowed a video here and there and now I just finished this awesome book. It covers everything, from day one through five years. I have a few kids under five and we have a very busy household. This book had great tips on how to stay on top of everything and stay organized. I really enjoyed Chapter 7; it had different dinner ideas for picky eaters. I wouldn’t especially consider my kids picky but they certainly have different tastes. I was getting to a point that dinnertime was horribly stressful because each kid would have a little of one thing that the other kid wouldn’t touch. I am ecstatic to find these k id friendly recipes that include healthy proteins. The other good point was that kids would eat if they were hungry. Offer them what you make and end of story. I was discussing this with our class instructor and she was telling me how many other mothers are dealing with the same issues too. Phew!