when I had nothing

[cracker]

Mat I'm very sorry to hear that there are a lot of people around my part of the country that are experiencing the same thing. People who have given they're life to one job and one company. I am the manager here and my phone rings several times a day with people lookng for work. It hurts every time I have to tell a man my age that I have nothing to offer him. Ronnie

[seabass]

Matt,i am so sorry to hear about your job brother.if you need anything,you now how to reach me.i am not a rich man,but i will help you in any way i can.seriously,let me know.

[iowabow]

My heart goes out to you and your family. I can said honestly i know how you must be feeling right now. I meet you last summer and you are a very smart man...you will guide your family with your strenght and put it back together.

[JW_Halverson]

I've met Mr and Mrs Iowabow and their wonderful son.  They are kind beyond words, generous and trusting, and best of all genuine people.  Gold ore is worthless until it is drawn thru a fire to refine it, to burn off the dross.  Other things when drawn thru the fire burn up and leave bitter and caustic ash.  With us people, it depends on where our hearts lie and where we put our efforts.  John's heart was good and he came out of this like Job in the Old Testament, blessed.

LIke him, I've seen my share of misery.  I lived in the oil patch in North Dakota when it went bust.  I was out of work, 19 yrs old, no skills, and nothing to make me stand out in an area with 25% unemployment.  I dumpster dived and ate other people's trash, seasoned with a large dose of humility.  Oddly, I am proud of making rent every month and keeping alive despite what I had to do to make it.  I didn't turn to crime or whine about how unfair it was.  I knew it was fair. 

Since then I have worn custom tailored suits and have been reduced to eating wild game and foraging for native plants to stay alive.  It's all the same to me.  Heck, I think I am one of the luckiest people in the world because I had 5 dreams when I was a kid in high school.  I have acheived 4 of those dreams.  All that is left is to go to Antarctica. 

Iowabow, I consider you to be someone I could do well to emulate.  I love the way you gently encourage and inspire. 

Mr Wirwicki, I believe in you.  Anyone that makes bows like you do has the grit and gumption to stick to it.  Anyone that hires you is lucky to have you.  Mr. Krewson, bonus points to you for sticking by your wofe for 30 years and seeing her thru this cancer. 

Thank you everyone, for your friendship and your inspiration.  Adversity allows us to show our best character.

[tattoo dave]

Well said Matt. I've been there too. Actually, when I had nothin...no money to replace my broken bow. I figured out how to make my own!   I went to art school as well, seems that label of "starving artist" is fairly accurate.

Tattoo Dave

[Ifrit617]

So sorry to hear that Matt, especially cause of all the small things you have sent to help me over the past two years... If you need anything man let me know.

Jon

[Gus]

This is a Powerful and Inspiring Thread.

-gus

[stringstretcher]

Sorry to hear this Matt.  Knowing you, you will survive and conquer.  My best to you and the family, and if you need me, you know how to reach me.

[crooketarrow]

  I seams I'm still there most the time. I've been places and saw lots of peoples suffering,dieing. Aswell as made a good life for me and my farmily. But I'm been where money was not a problem. But in 06 I had 2 strokes that totally changed my out look on life. Also as said as you get older your no so invenceable and you slow dow. Or like me chose to slow down.
  I lived through my strokes (very lucky) could'nt talk and was in a wheel chair for a year. Could'nt did'nt hunt for 2 years. But faught my way back to  what the doc.says is 90 %. It's 100% to me. W

[crooketarrow]

  Were poor my mosts standards but I've chose the slower simpler life. I told my boys if you don't like the ways we live when you get old enough move on. I mom and dad never put a stop to me ever growing up. I always let my boys have freedom they wanted as long as no one got hunt. Or I saw the were doing anything stupit. No better teacher than exsperance.
  My whole life I've lived it the ways I wanted to. Not many peopole can say they've none this. I quess my decline stated long before I had strokes in 06. Clear back to 22 years ago when I made my first bow. I did'nt know then the trail building a selfbow would lead me down. I've molded my life around bows, gogglers amd bucks.
 And like I said I'm poor my manys to others standers but rich in my eyes.

[Buckeye Guy]

Iowabow !
When I began to read this I thought this fellow has to be related to me !
Thanks for taking the time to write this is will be a blessing in itself !
It takes some fire to bring the best in us to the surface that is for sure !
Good folks like those on this forum, give us all ,the encouragement to do better !

Matt
I am here for you If there is anything I can do !
Please make sure that I get a chance to give Miss Heather a hug this weekend !
If there is anything I can bring you let me know !
Thanks to all on this forum for being my Friend!!!
Guy

[Wolf Watcher]

At this stage in my life it seems I have become quite the philosopher.  One thing I do know for sure is there are millions of people that have had a much rougher life than I have known.  My younger brother was in a truck wreck while working on a Pipeline in Oregon when he was 16.  He had been the captain of his football team and held the state class B record for the 100 yrd dash.  He lost his leg above the knee, had his chest and shoulder crushed, and his good ankle was also crushed.  His life has been so full of pain and yet he never complains.  I snivel about having a cold for a few days.  He is retired now after becoming a pulse arc welder whee he could stand next to a turning device so he could stand by it and weld.  Another person I know, Tyler Huston, had a pacemaker implanted when he was 5 years old.  He grew up with a bow in his hand and has become one of the very best primitive bow hunters I know.  He has had several close calls with his heart and now faces another implant surgery.  I understand the placement of the leads for the pacemaker is a much more serious operation than the implant itself!  He will be operated on either the 11Th or 24Th of this month.  I am told this is the most dangerous operation he has had to date.  Some people just have it tougher than most of us.  I plan to smoke my pipe and ask for his safety. So when I think I have been dealt a bad hand, all I have to do is look around.  How about you?  A/Ho Joe

[Rick Wallace]

Wow!  I have so much in common with all of you guys.Wont go into my story but its very similar to most of you.

[Bone pile]

School of hard knocks ,seems to be were alot of us attended.I was on my own young and hit the road with my thumb out and a pack on my back. I tell my son now when he talks about the homeless that I was without a home for a few years. I wouldn't trade most of it ,learned alot about life. All the best to yall
Bone pile

[YosemiteBen]

Thank you all for your words these past few days.  I have not been to the same places where many of you have been. I do continue to find myself in some tight spots. My son on the other hand has been in many of those places since he was 13. Now he is 26 with two kids - no car, no job and no prospects.  He has reached a point where he just wants to "bounce out" and abandon his kids to the state so he can go find himself.  So - there does exist a possibility that my wife and I and our son will take on these two small people so that they do not end up in a house where they may not be loved. That did happen when child welfare Services first got involved.  For my son there is no ownership of his responsibilities and it is always someone elses fault.  Soooo.... what wil life bring to us? I suppose time will tell.
Thanks again for all of you here and your stories of perserverance.
Ben