It's Time to Talk to the Family

Hello everyone, I have a story to tell you about how I got to this blog entry.
I have been a big fan of all of you for a very long time now, I know all your stories and have shared in your excitement as you achieved your goals.
I would bet that I have seen every Weekly Wisdom for the past four years, probably more. I own the last four years of Edge Event CD's, I started with Think a Little Different and have five of Dean's books within reach right now. I have always known Dean to be a straight shooter and the real deal, I was sure no one could fake the passion he has.
I'm small town, never had much. I went to Tech School after High School for Electro-mechanical Technology. About the time I was finishing Tech School I had been visiting freinds who were attending nearby colleges, I felt this was something I needed and wanted to do. I wanted to be a part of this and made the decision to go to college. At this point I had a good understanding of the financial aid system and knew I could put myself through college with the help of the system and a few loans. I sent in my application and got accepted.
It worked, I had a very great college career and had a student job in one of the best Labs on campus. When my final semester came around I had a bit of a meltdown and had to drop some of the required classes for graduation, I finished the semester and walked with my classmates at graduation even though I was three classes short. What a horrible feeling that was. I finally went back, when I could afford it, four years later, and finished those three classes. I got my degree in Manufacturing Systems and at this point was working for a well respected plastics company in Wisconsin. I started with them as a Maintenance Tech repairing production equipment. I later landed a job as a Manufacturing Engineer that I was very excited about and really poured myself into. I held that job for four years and suddenly got laid off even though by boss did all he could to keep me on, the decision was from corporate and I had to go. I was hurt and upset but I had a lot of vacation time to absorb the time off from work. I spent it all, six weeks worth. Six weeks and two days later I was back at the job. Happy. Then I thought about the whole situation and how it was so completely out of the control of the people who truly knew my worth to the company, there was nothing they could do to keep it from happening. It was then that I realized where I stood in the company and how secure my situation was. I'm sure my enthusiasm dropped off and was noticed by most of my co-workers. I started having trouble relating to my boss and conflicts arose. I decided to leave that position and facility and went back to maintenance at anouther of the companies facilities. I have worked odd night shifts and even had to work through the Fourth of July weekend once missing a family reunion I really wanted to go to. Through all of this I kept going back to you guys on this site, and kept thinking I might be able to do this but never made my move....one day I received an invite to a pre-auction event in the mail, I made the call and booked my reservation because of this mailing! I realized that I would never make a move if I didn't break away and get involved. I signed up for the three day training and then the advanced training. I will attend a Boots on the Ground event in two days, it's weird being scared and excited at the same time but I've noticed it really brings out the best in me.

Thanks to all of you, you are my inspiration.
I'm on my way, see you soon!