Life for me has never been easy or stress free, but it seems that lately things have just progressively gotten worse. Work conditions have become more unfavorable, and I am faced everyday with excessive work and very little pay to show for it. I feel as though I am letting my family down, but as God as my witness, I am trying to make the situation better. .
The struggle all started about two years ago when my husband Michael was killed in a mining accident. He was working one Monday morning for the Virginia Coal Company when an explosion caused him and fourteen other men to be trapped inside one of the mines. Due to lack of swift communication, by the time men arrived to remove the rubble, all fifteen of them had died from suffocation. I had just delivered our third child and was utterly devastated when I found out that I had been widowed. .
The first year was not too difficult. With the help of my relatives, I was able to provide for my family and still take care of chores and such around the house. After awhile, my relatives had to go back to help with their own families and I was left to fend for myself. .
I quickly found a job working with the Union Pacific Railroad Company. Since my oldest son, Benjamin, had just turned fourteen, I felt that it was acceptable for me to get a job and leave him to watch over my two younger children, Dalton and Kaylee. Even though Benjamin would have rather been out in the schoolyard playing baseball with his friends, he understood that he was needed at home until things settled down. .
At first, the job with the railroad was not that bad. I started out working only forty hours a week, which still gave me sufficient time to spend with my family and take care of things around the house. The children knew that in order to put food on the table, I needed to work and bring in some money. The pay was not that great, but anything was going to help.