Pay It Forward and the phone call that made my day.

I just received a phone call from a woman that took my resume workshop this July. She said I changed her life because I cared enough to help, that I took my personal time to help her. She is now the career advisor for an institute. She called to tell me that I taught her how to be proud of herself, to have courage, and to do the best resume they had seen. I made a difference in someones life and it was good. She told me she was putting a budget together to pay me to help the students there on my free time from work and wanted to let me know what she was planning because I "had the ability to change lives."

I cried with such a sweet smile on my face. I actually did something that made a difference. I helped her by just being me. And to think, summer of 2009 I just started over in a new town in a new state with $400, my dog, no job, no friends and no family. I have succeeded in doing what I wanted in life...making a difference in at least one person's life...to teach them how to get up from down-and-out and learn skills to better themselves, to be productive, and to help others. Strangely enough, I now realize I also did that for myself, too.

People have always wanted to know why I didn't do something with my life that was better than a lowly social worker or a writer. Old friends have asked, "I thought you would be a brain surgeon, an astronaut, or a physicist by now, what happened? Why did you choose social work?" Well, because that is my personality. I'm a helper. My last boss knew that. He told me, "April it is who you are, not what you do. My bet is that you have always been a social worker." I have and will continue to be.