I received this beautiful card from my boss who is retiring and it brought up a lot of memories that I wanted to share.

Many don’t know how my journey at the library began and it’s quite a story.

I struggled with severe mental health issues from the time I was a teenager. It got so bad that I was in and out of psych hospitals – fighting for my life. I wanted to try working again and so I started with ODC to help me find employment. It was a lot of hit or miss but eventually I found my place!
I first wanted to go into daycare. So I tried that. I didn’t really like working with the kids and so I moved over to Companion Day Services and volunteered with the elderly. It was a perfect fit. I loved it but there was no job openings. We then thought about working in a book store since I loved books. My ODC case manager tried to get me a job trial at Book World but we struck out again. She then thought of the library. She talked to the director and I started doing some stuff there (paper shredding etc) and then the supervisor in Circulation offered to let me try the page work… and the rest is history! It’s been quite a journey and I’ve fought hard to get to where I am today. But, I’m so grateful to the people the given me the opportunities. I didn’t just find a job but a family!

So my Wisdom is this. Don’t give up. Sometimes life stinks but it always has a way of working out the way it’s supposed to!

Thanks for reading! ❤ KatieButterfly