Life’s little ups and downs
Life is continually full of surprises and sometimes disappointments that seem almost unavoidable, and occasionally we make little mistakes along the way that can literally turn our life upside down until we are able to turn them around.
This last spring upon leaving school for the summer I had these wild romantic notions of moving back out to the ranch in the desert and continuing my school by mail.
This archived article was written by: Robert Morton
Life is continually full of surprises and sometimes disappointments that seem almost unavoidable, and occasionally we make little mistakes along the way that can literally turn our life upside down until we are able to turn them around.
This last spring upon leaving school for the summer I had these wild romantic notions of moving back out to the ranch in the desert and continuing my school by mail.
Sometimes it seems no matter how bad you want to do something and no matter how much planning you do, the plans just do not work out. Occasionally we find that it is all for the better, but disappointing just the same.
After two years of attending school at CEU, I was looking forward to getting out and stretching my unused muscles and working around the ranch. I love and miss the hard work and life that ranch life has to offer.
I miss long walks that I used to take wandering through the sage brush with no particular destination in mind, looking for rattle snakes, arrow heads and the many other bits of interest that pop up along the way. And of course, like I’ve said so many times, the howl of the coyotes as I wake in the early morning and again as I fall asleep at night it is forever, sweet soothing music to my soul.
But life goes on, and as big of a disappointment as that might have been, I still made one huge mistake last fall that has caused no end to my grief and I am sorting through it even today with no light at the end of the tunnel.
For those of you who use the services of Vocational Rehabilitation this may be of particular interest.
The Price Department of Vocational Rehabilitation has been a friend to me and has done me countless good. Carol, my counselor who has developed into quite a friend has taken special attention and has seen to it that all of my needs have been met, so I have nothing bad to say about any of them, they have paid for my books and tuition for two years now and for that I will forever be grateful.
But here is the problem, Vocational Rehab have rules, and sometimes even the slightest infraction can upset the whole apple cart and cause all kinds of problems, even to the point of closing your case. This is what happened to me. Let me tell you what I did wrong and maybe it will save just one of you, from making the same fatal mistake.
Do you remember this last spring when I wrote an article about dorm life, and how excited I was to be out of my apartment and into a dorm? It was great. I was on campus and close to all of my classes and yes even the cafeteria where I didn’t have to cook for myself anymore. Well, this is where it all begins.
Remember where I said Vocational Rehabilition has rules? Well they do and I broke one. One of the rules says: If you change residence for any reason you must make your counselor aware of your move by giving her a forwarding address so they know where to find you and send your mail. If you don’t and your mail is returned and you are unable to meet the appointments they request and if they are unable to find you, they will close your case.
This is what happened to me when I moved into the dorms; I just simply forgot to tell then where I had moved. Even though I was still attending classes and doing well in school, I was considered not locatable.
Now it wouldn’t have been so bad had I intended on staying in Price the following semester, they could have without a great deal of trouble reopened my case, but now I moved to Salt Lake to further my schooling and believe me, Vocational Rehabilitation here is a whole new ball game and very impersonal. The magnitude of my mistake really set in quick.
For a simple mistake that I so innocently made, I have to go through the whole process of reapplying for services. They are in no hurry to help you in SLC, and in fact, because of some of the physical successes that I have had, it may not happen at all. So, a note to the wise: read, remember and follow rules.
However, despite the ups and downs of it all, the good life goes on. Yesterday began another glorious semester of hard work and studies and I am once again happily involved in the element of which I am most content. I wish you all a great semester … .study hard.
