Lessons From the Two People Who Saved me From Homelessness

The chance nobody gets — how I am everything that I am today because of them

Source: Andrew on Unsplash.

Late 2009, I was about to graduate from high school, homeless.

I had been living out of a 2001 Honda Accord, attending my classes, and going to Cross Country/Track practice.

When my coach found out, he offered me a job with an old family friend. This family friend, I ended up discovering, was one of my coach’s father’s childhood friends. A friendship that had lasted over 50 years.

He was my first boss. The workplace was all family, they were all my coach’s extended family. It was a small insurance office, but it was my first real home. I truly feel like I was adopted there.

I don’t think Steve, my boss, knows how much it meant to me. I don’t think he understood exactly how awful my situation was or that I had crossed over from a place of giving up to a place of acceptance.

I’m fairly certain he would tell anybody he met about how many good things I have done for the company.

He’s one of the greatest things to have ever happened in my life. Before I got admitted to Berkeley, my four years working there saved me. I am what I am today because of someone’s blind faith and…