February 08th, 2012

Michael P Chisholm 's Story

Birth Year: 1954




Table of Contents





    I was born in Boulder back on 12/14/1954.

    My biggest problem today is I canít find anybody to help me. I have been homeless for almost a year now. There are plenty of people like me at the shelter at night. Some of the people are there with children. It is tough for us all.

    My life today is not necessarily what I hoped it would be, as my health in past years has deteriorated. I have had a couple of heart attacks. This is for the most part what is holding me back. The first one I had the doctorís put 3 stints in me. The second they put in a pacemaker. On that occasion they only kept me in the hospital for one day.

    A few days ago I had pain in my chest and my left arm was again hurting me. In fact I was just released from the hospital yesterday. The same day they put 2 more stints in my heart. I am still wearing the wristband because I have not yet had the chance to cut it off. So now I will tell my stories here.

    The people in the hospital told me at first that they could not release me without some place to go. I have no place! Problem for them was I had to check out because they would not pay to keep me in. I asked them if they wanted to pay for a room, I would have been happy to stay.  It was dilemma for them but for now my life is very simple. I survive day to day as best I can. It is the people in the shelters that help keep me going.

    Once I had the heart attack at the shelter. They called an ambulance to get me over to Boulder Community Hospital. The bill was 1,600 bucks. I donít have any money to pay that bill. So it has gone unpaid, at least by me. The shelters also provide us food. So it is not like I am going hungry. The hardest thing now is to try to stay warm during the day. I have never been treated bad by anyone. Speaking for myself I have always been treated with respect. The people at the shelters are decent. The other people there are just like me, trying to find a place to stay. Some work some donít. Most of the people with kids are looking for work.

    Nice thing about life, you never know what comes next. As of today I now have a reason to go to the local library. I can come in here and continue to write my story. It gets me out of the cold.

    All I have at this time is the mission in north Boulder and a small bag of possessions I can carry on my shoulder. A church has never assisted me. In fact I have never asked a church for money or help.

    During the day I can walk. That is now my exercise. The people of Boulder are not that friendly. My mode of transportation now is hitchhiking and here it is hard. Many people will not stop for just a moment to give a man a ride. The people of the homeless shelter put us out during the day but let us back in late in the afternoon. It is not so nice when it is 20 degrees outside. But what choice do I have? I would like to work but it is not easy to find a job. I canít do the work I used to which was being an auto mechanic.

    Today is the day after Thanksgiving 2007. Today I am just out of the hospital from having heart trouble again. I was standing on the edge of a parking lot just off the north side of Pearl Street Mall when a man approached me on a mission. We chatted for a bit and he invited me to a cup of coffee. How could I turn him down? It would be nice to get warmed up a bit on the inside. As much as that felt good I had the chance to sit in a small tavern downtown off the street for an hour or so.

    I have layers of clothes to help me with the cold I have my old one-piece jump suit. One of the homeless men commented earlier today that he had one like it once and it sure helped him stay warm. That suit makes a big difference for me. My hooded jersey underneath it also keeps some of the cold at bay and protects my head and ears mostly.

    Christmas season has begun and I would like to say that the most memorable Christmas I have had to date was just two years ago. I was working at that time. I had just got a job and I was able to buy my mom a gold watch for a present. I know that that present meant a lot to her. That is why that Christmas meant so much to me.

    I got along very well with my mom. Unfortunately she is gone now. My dad I have not seen since I was 11 years old. He left the family behind. I have 3 brothers still alive and one that has passed away. As families go I am only in touch with one of them these days. I have no kids myself. So I will share some of my stories here with you.

    If I could pass on one lesson in life I would say, ìkeep working as long as you can. So you are not out in the cold like me.î

    Early on the morning of the first of June this year was my momís last day. It happened back home in a small town called Delheart, Texas. It is just a little bitty town with nothing much to do there unless you liked to bowl a lot or go to the bars. Her passing was fast thank God and the sad story happened like this.

    She was driving her car on her way to the restaurant where she worked. My young niece was in the car with her. She had managed to get into the parking lot and get the car stopped. That was it! She died right there in the car. Not the type of experience we want to happen in front of our kids. But you just canít protect people from life. All they wanted to do was get some breakfast. Then my mom was then going to take her to school.

    ìIt just didnít work out that way!î

    The man I met today asked me. ìHow would you feel if I had all my momís stories?î

    I replied ìOh, I would have quite a few if I had them all. I just regret that I was not able to say goodbye to her because I was not with them when she past away.î

    I was able to make it down there to her funeral.

    Now my Uncle also past this year on the 13th of May, he was the first to go. He had Alzheimerís. At the funeral home they wanted $3,000 to ship him home here to Colorado. He had a plot for burial here. So instead spending that kind of money I drove him home myself. We just picked him up at the funeral home put the coffin in the back of my pickup and drove him out here. I had to cover the coffin up with a tarp so nobody would know. It was the respectful thing to do. It was legal to transport him. He had a plot here in Boulder and he is back here now where he belongs.

    In the past I have done quite a bit of traveling. I have done most that by driving. But today my only means is hitchhiking. Some of the places I have visited I can list out. I have been to California, Arizona and Las Vegas. Of all the places I have been I would say that Vegas is the most amazing place.

    In Vegas I have made some money playing Blackjack. The most I can think of at this moment was $900 that I won once. I have met some girls that I had the chance to invite up to my hotel room. I will say I had a good time out there. That is a place where you can live life.

    Now in California I would say I have done the tourist routine. I have been to Fountain Valley, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Now LA I consider too be a rat race but the town itself is not bad. I did not live there but I have brother that did. I spent a week there visiting with him once. He took me around showed me some sites.

    While there I wanted to see where he worked so he took me out by boat to an oilrig. Boat was the only way we had to approach it or get there. I had never been on an oilrig before. Working on one is not something I would want to do. Itís pretty hard work. He doesnít do that anymore.

    In San Francisco I got to get around a bit. I did not go down to Fishermanís Wharf. But I did get the chance to ride the trolley with my mom. I took her with me on this trip. Neither of us had been on a trolley before. It was fun for both of us. They also have this street there that is considered the crookedest street in the country. We got to go down that also. My mom also wanted to go on a helicopter ride so we both did that as well. It was the first time I had been on one. It was sort of like riding in a plane but with more openness or visibility. You can see out a lot better. It was not too loud as one might expect. I also thought it was fun.

    I have traveled but I have never been in the service. So I have no stories there.

    When I was in High School I working at a service station as a mechanic. When I got out of course I continued on as an auto mechanic. I never went to college. Working on cars is what led me into racing cars. A friend of mine had some cars that we would take to the track. We had some good times. We would race the quarter mile strip. One year we won the nationals and that took us down to Phoenix, Arizona. We drove supped up Chevy Novas.

    I got the chance to drive and  race myself. The fastest I have gotten my car up to would be 200 miles an hour. At that speed thing pass by pretty quick!

    Now when you are going that fast you mainly just have to pay attention to the steering wheel. The other thing you have to do is make sure you get your shoots out when you get to the end of the course to slow you down. I was asked once what about the brakes. Well you really donít want to use them unless you have to. They will heat up and cause you to spin out. It is pretty dangerous if you use them you are better off if you donít. So the best thing to do is pull the chute. It will slow you down.

    Now when I was in the nationals we won some trophies. There was also some money in the sport then. I would say total we took in about $5,000. Now back in those days we didnít have any sponsors like they do today. We had to pay for all of our own stuff. It is not that way anymore. Without sponsors you wouldnít be able to race. I will say back then it was a lot easier. It didnít cost as much then.

    I canít do now what I was once able to do. So the thought of getting back on a team is out of the question.