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author
Jay Alan Dietterich
My mother got a divorce and my oldest brother moved out. Soon after,
when I was 19 we moved. I had gone through several bands, several jobs
and two cars. At 22 years now without a car due to a w...view moreMy mother got a divorce and my oldest brother moved out. Soon after,
when I was 19 we moved. I had gone through several bands, several jobs
and two cars. At 22 years now without a car due to a wreck, I had found a
Job nearby and found a ride and saved enough money to buy a house and
Lived there for a year and bought a piano and wrote scores of music. I could
not sustain the mortgage payment on my own so I decided to rent it out
with a positive cash flow of $100 a month.
I went to computer school after a long internal battle between arts
school or this, looking back I see now it was a mistake. But I got my
degree. Shortly thereafter I met my future wife, she moved in with me to
my small apartment of two rooms, 1 bath and a small old style 50's kitchen
in the north east of Philadelphia in a town known as Willowgrove. I soon had
tenant problems and was forced to evict them and move in to fix a broken
bedroom floor in my rental. Geri my girl friend moved to my house with me
and lived through the reconstruction of the bed room. Money became tight
and I could not find a job that paid well enough to cover my expenses.
Then was the best news of my life. Geri my soon to be wife was
Pregnant. I was floored, I could not believe it. I wasn't ready. I wasn't
scared but I knew it would be a task to prepare a house for a baby.
We worked and planned and did all the things wrong that we wanted to do
Right. And through the years that followed We were now a family of
three. I had become a father overnight as it seemed it went so fast.
I went into the maintenance field working on machines and
developing a taste for programmable logic controllers and began a
new fascination for technology. More babies came. I am now a father
of two boys, Corey and Brian and Going from job to job in a harsh
economy I found myself lost, searching and longing for the person I was.
I am now 46, a Father of 5 boys, Corey, Brian, Tyler, Aaron and Dylan.
I had sold my small house and bought a bigger colonial with a two car
Garage, four bedrooms, three baths and I had good jobs for 10 years and
a beautiful house in the suburbs with my beautiful wife Geri and a dog and
a cat. And money problems you would not believe.
I have not painted for 20 years and I wonder If I will ever get the
chance again. I had always thought, what if I had chose art school over
computer school would my life be better? But that was a waste of time.
Knowing that I am an artist took a long time to realize what that
means for me. Owning up to the responsibility for myself to continue
learning to improve my skill In the different arts I am capable of so I can
grow from sharing my art with others. Accepting of who I am is easy for me
because I have always known I would go back to art. I had hoped I would
have a steady income to feel more relaxed about the creative process. But
without the drive to create an income from it I might not have the drive to
create. Like those around me like my wife and my adult family, they are
concerned of the facts that there might not be a sufficient income for my
family, as well as I. Somehow I am on this path now and I can only
thank God for this opportunity. All I can do is try my hardest to succeed.
As far as my adult family they can have their reservations about it, but even
after death it's
still my life.
I am an artist.view less