I have survived a few hurricanes, a volcano erupting and a few floods... They were cool when i was young and didnt have anything, but as we age.. They SUCK
So the true disaster that happened to US was sept 13th,2008....Hurricane IKE change my life forever and in a good way...
So now, the rest of the story..LONG WINDED
So we were on vacation fishing in the everglades and hurricane ike had just passed and was going to mexico... OR WAS HE..... anyways, we watch constantly as the target trajectoy changed daily... and BOOM.. .here he goes as a cat 2 wind/cat 4 water and basically went strait up the 145 cooridoor .. A direct hit to my area, home, work etc.
We lost EVERYTHING, except our boat and the wifes car... which are friends and family came home and took.... I cried when we got home and saw just one wall left standing on our waterfront home in galveston.... we saved a few tools and my wifes kayaks which were on the highway..... This would be the one thing, that totally changed the direction our life was going and for the better.
First thing we realized once we called insurance and my work etc, was that we were in financial ruin.... We had 2500 dollars to our name, the wife lost her job as her hospital was wiped out .... Then came THE CALL that changed it all... My company, called to ensure we were ok and ask us if we needed anything.... Now not epexting much from the company, as i was a new employee with 1 year at the company, i kinda wept as i talked to them , I had nothing, ,i felt lost, i felt depressed and honestly had no idea how my wife and i would survive..... The person on the other end of the line, asked me if was able to meet and i of course said yes... She came to ME at my home.. I was amazed
needless to say, i didnt expect much but man was i surprised. She arrives within the hour... She gave me a firm handshake and said.. On behalf of the company, i am here to help.... First thing you need is money, she handed me an envelope with 20k USD cash.... I was shocked, next she handed me another envelope with details of a hotel and keys to our room... She said the company has taken care of this for you for the next 3 months... She handed me a card, and said. This is the company lawyer, he will represent you with all you need to fight the insurance companies and whatever else you need. His team will be available 24/7 for as long as you need them.... I balled like a little girl SHOCKED and AMAZED at what my company of 1 year was doing for me
In the days ,weeks and months that followed.... we survived, we fought like hell against big insurance and i happily went to work and busted my ass... The company told me to take 3 months off and sort out my life, NOPE.. 3 weeks later i went back to work, as i owned nothing, and needed to keep my mind busy.. My boss told me no, I gave him no choice. I needed to work, i needed overtime, i needed to pay my company back what they so graciously did to help my wife and I.
Now mind you, this was 2008 and 2009.. The economy was crashing, the housing bubbly burst.... It was not a pretty year to say the least... I had decided that NEVER again was i gonna be caught with my wallet empty like that... I studdied all i could about finance and listened to every dave ramsey thing i could find....
towards the end of 2008, the company called me and said .. Hey, come up to the main office we have sorted out a place to get you out of that hotel.. I go up there, and they hand me over the keys and information to a brand new fully furnished condo that they said was ours for 9months. Everything paid for except cable television... Again, i was shocked and so thankful.
During this time, i worked every amount of overtime i could get... saved saved and saved.... Finally after the lawsuits against big insurance, we couldnt do much more than settle with them and in settling, i basically came up with enough cash to pay the old house off....and the 20k to give the company back what they had loaned us.
Since we finally bulldozed the old house remains and had a design to build a new house, i went to the bank to get a loan to build a new house... Nope, no loans to give, sorry son.. said the banker.... it was 2009 by this point.... I was sunk again, but i knew something would happen to bring a new house to fruition... I had to meet with a company lawyer to sign some paperwork and he asked me how the new construction was going and i had to explain to him that no one was giving loans and that we were stuck... He looked at me suprised and said, well lets make a phone call.... within a day, he had me all set up to get a FEMA Disaster assistance loan for 200k USD.... The paperwork went through a few months and i was Amazed when they came back with a 1.9% interest rate. Once again, this was all because of my company......
April 1, 2010 we moved into our new home...... the entire time i had worked my ass off, as much overtime as i could get, i did the general contracting on my house, designed it myself, engineered it myself and made sure i was there every morning at sunup and ever evening at sundown..... I picked the right subs, hustled in every way i could... WE HAD A BEAUTIFUL NEW HOME.....
Once we moved in, we looked out our finances and we had a 10k emergency fund, 20k to pay the company back they gave me and very little else... but i was making great money, as i had two promotions that year and my wifes hospital was about to open and she could return to making good money as well.... Life was ok.
I went to our company headquarters downtown to talk to the person in charge of the IKE assistance team.. I brought with me a check for the 20k we had been given and the nice lady said.. Sir, that was a gift..... You do not have to pay it back and even if you tried.. The company wouldnt take it.... I balled again...
This one thing led me to where i am today, although i went through a amicalable divorce since then, have several business that my ex and I started and am about to FIRE with a fiance, a PAID FOR HOUSE ( thanks ) and a shitload of money invested.... I could not have done this without the lords help, and the Best company a person could ever work for......
The name of that company... ( i took this out, lets just say its the 4th largest oil and gas company in the world()