During High School, my first jobs came quickly, and they all had to be worked around summer school. At Bridge Harbor Marina in Surfside, Texas, I gassed boats, hauled them out of storage with a large forklift, lowered them into the water, and put them back in storage when the members were finished. It was straightforward, physical work, and it paid enough to keep me moving forward.
The summer before my senior year, I worked at the Dow Hotel in Freeport. During the day, after summer school, I bell‑hopped. In the evenings, I helped as a lifeguard at the hotel pool. At night and on weekends, I played and sang in the Rathskeller club. For a high school kid, it was good money, and it was the first time I felt any real sense of independence. It bought all my clothes when I left for college. I didn’t know what my life would become, but I could feel the possibility of shaping it.
When my brother married, I moved in with my mother in Freeport, Texas, during what should have been my junior year. Because I had lost so many credits my sophomore year, I was officially a sophomore until my senior year. I would not have graduated with my class if I hadn’t passed every subject in my senior year.
After graduation, I wanted to go to college. My aunt and uncle in Beaumont opened their home so I could attend Lamar University. They had three children, including a son, Jim, who was my age. He and I became closer than brothers. But even with their support, I still didn’t know how to study. After a year, I flunked out.
I returned to Freeport and moved back in with my mother. My little brother, Jim, was living with my brother Charles and his wife, Eileen. I took a job repairing roads at the harbor. The work was hard, the days were long, and I had no clear direction. I tried Wharton Junior College next, hoping a smaller school might make a difference. It didn’t. My grades told the same story: I wasn’t ready.