A walk-through memory lane

I sit up contemplating life and hoping for a better day and better future. After doing some research and reading I suddenly felt the need to write. So, here I am writing my thoughts in the wee hours of the morning. I was thinking about all my work and lived experience. I remember my first paid job was working at a theme park as a ride operator for minimum wage. We would get to test out the roller coaster before the park opened to guests. There was a time I worked as a bus boy for a seafood restaurant, also for minimum wage. I remember working while in school in the university mail center and would organize mail into different bins to be sent out for delivery. I would also put mail in the appropriate mailbox for faculty and staff. I would deliver bins of mail or packages to dormitories, university buildings/departments, and post offices. I would say that was the coolest job I had working on campus as a student because I would get to interact with different people. People were always excited for their mail especially if they got packages around the winter. I remember working as a cook, food server, prepper, and dishwasher. I remember working as a custodian. I remember working as a parking attendant. I remember working as a ticket taker at a Mexican night club. I remember working in laundry washing, drying, folding, and stacking up fitness uniforms inside a big company's own fitness gym. I remember working as a horticulture technician taking care of plants at different businesses. I worked to support myself and my family which is mostly my mom now since I grew up under her roof. My folks divorced in 2001. I remember stubbornly wanting to leave home to study in Portland, Oregon back in 2009. I was wanting to make the Pacific Northwest my refuge from the negative environment I grew up in. Don't get me wrong there are positive parts, but I just felt like if I stayed in San Antonio for college right after high school, I would not have gotten the experience I needed to be where I am today. Living in Portland, Oregon was a very transformative experience. I learned a lot about organizing for justice, building relationships, discipline, and character.