I believe I said I was going to talk about how I got Scotch this post, and I’ll get there, I promise. I wanted to talk about my social life and how I got to the limited social state I have now.
Up through fifth grade, I didn’t really have many friends. No one I really hung out with after school, at any rate. Starting in middle school, at sixth grade, I met Kyle on the first day and we became friends – have been ever since. I still remember the day, prior to his coming out, that he told me he could never marry me, because I’d make him fat! Even back then I was baking and sharing treats with my friends – my grandma had started teaching me when I was eight.
I started gathering friends, and though I never had many, I considered them all good friends. Then Matt and junior year came. He was my first boyfriend, and things were good between us – at least at first. Unfortunately, it wasn’t until after we had graduated that I realized that he’d been manipulating me.
See, I’d gotten distant from most of my friends, and that’s what he wanted – to distance me from my friends and family so that I felt I could only rely on him. He’d even put me down when I talked about my dream of working in the medical field, and tell me I wouldn’t be any good at it, that people would never believe me because I was too pretty to be a nurse or whatever. It was Kyle who finally got it through my head to get the hell away from Matt – he even said he’d stick by me. Originally I think he wanted to be a nurse, but he told me he decided to stick with me – nursing school would wreak havoc on his complexion, or some silly excuse like that.
Fortunately, Matt didn’t get violent like I feared he might when I broke up with him – he simply said whatever, insulted me to high hell and back, feeling triumphant for leaving me broken and depressed. I was due to start my EMT training in the fall, and I largely spent my summer in my room at my parents’ place. Kyle saved my life by bringing me Scotch. Scotch was just a wee baby when I got him, just able to leave his mama. I got a summer job to help pay for the kitten’s needs, and though I cut my hours back when I started EMT training in the fall, it was still enough to take care of him, with some leftover in savings.
My parents helped me with the various deposits I needed to make for my apartment and utilities, and helped me out while I was in training, on the condition I pay them back. They even got a third vehicle for me to use, so I wouldn’t h ave to rely on public transportation. My parents are awesome 🙂
After I received my EMT training, I got a year of experience in before taking the paramedic training, finally becoming a paramedic around my twentieth birthday. Scotch is, of course, a cat – lovable, floofy, and stubborn. He’s my savior on hard days, and my cuddle buddy when lonely or afraid – he even keeps the spiders at bay for me 🙂