ear and a half of high school, I had to get a job to help out at home. Right away, that meant no more outside or school sports, church choir, school clubs, or even any courses that involved going on field trips outside of school hours or on weekends, plus only the few typical high school social activities, such as homecoming, prom, and senior trip. "Time management," to use today's phrase, became my number one problem--not to mention dropping down to C average because of limited homework time. A number two problem was that because I was not taking part in school activities as I always had, I did not spend very much time with my friends; job needs (plus little money) always got in the way of date movies with girls or weekend sports with boys. And of course those issues are not things either dates or friends want to hear about, and they are not things that one can speak to with smaller siblings. I did not have anybody to talk to about the strain on my time and friendships. For a while I considered quitting school entirely because I did not really fit in any more. W
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