Stephanie Turner's Dilemma

Quote Prompt for September 2024.

It's fine to celebrate success, but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure."


Failure is a hard lesson to learn from. When failure happens, picking ourselves back up is difficult. We're not sure whether or not we will survive it. Knowing where to turn to for help can be confusing when the walls have crashed down on us. It's taking that first step. The uncertainty of signing up at different offices when you need help can be unbearable. You don't know what to expect. Their lack of understanding in our particular situations can be frustrating as heck. They appear to know all the answers. They put pressure on you to do something that we, simply are not able to do. This is especially true when you have a mental disability. Certain limitations hinder our energy level. Stephanie Turner has. She was just fortunate enough to have put in enough years to get disability. She put in a full day's work and had to put in extra overtime hours as well. Still, she was not able to put in the quota that was expected of her. in a day. There was a lot to do. She was a hard worker. She had an assistant supervisor once. When she became the supervisor, she had it in for her for some reason. She made her work unbearable because she was slow. She was not a fast worker. She would come home in tears. She would do her best, but it wasn't good enough for her.

Stephanie was put on a six-month probation period to improve her speed at work. Processing ten business and sales tax licenses per day didn't sound like much. Her co-workers would call her to wait on customers every time one would show up. As if this wasn't enough for her to do, she had other duties, or responsibilities to do also. She had to work with correspondence, answer phones, and file papers. She was slow but was thorough in what she had done. Her motto was: If you do things right the first time, then you don't have to go back and do it over again.

Six months had passed. She found out she was terminated from her job. During this particular time, work was extra hard; the pressure was just too much. When she was photo-copying her discharge papers, her trainer saw what she was doing and he was excited.. He was thinking that she was getting a promotion. He said, "Stephanie, you got a promotional! She looked at him and responded sadly, "No Douglas, I just got terminated from employment". "You what?" Douglas's jaw seemed to drop to the floor. He couldn't believe what he just heard. He knew she worked hard.

The co-workers got together and bought her a pretty flower basket with artificial flowers in it, and received some money. The person in charge of the gifts and money received for promotions, etc., mentioned that nobody else has received more money or gifts than she did. She was taken aside, and Stephanie was told that the woman wasn't supposed to tell her that.

Stephanie's home life was a troubling one. Her husband, at the time, was verbally abusing her. He would stay away by saying that he had to work a double, and sometimes a triple shift. She suspected that something was wrong. Her intuition told her that he was having an affair with someone. She trusted that this wasn't the case, but it didn't make the thought go away. It made her miserable.

The day she lost her job was the night she noticed him pulling up in the driveway. She walked out to the car to let him know what happened. Much to her surprise, she saw him in the car kissing some woman. The woman remarked, "Who in the hell is this?" "She's my sister", he replied. Stephanie was shocked to the point of not saying anything. She walked back into the apartment. She asked him later why he was kissing her. "I wasn't kissing her, he said, "I was just trying to help her get a contact out of her eye". She knew what she saw. "I'm not a fool", she said to herself.

Stephanie decided to find out if she could stay with somebody from the church. She did find a couple to stay with. This worked for a little while. Then, she noticed there was some trouble in their marriage. The name of the couple was Sean and Sue Hanson. She approached Stephanie one day and said that Sean was hitting her. She would have to find another place to live. By this time, Stephanie was starting to have trouble with her emotions. She didn't know what she was going to do. She was told to tithe ten percent of her income to the church. She was hesitant to agree, but she had no choice. It seemed like Sean and Sue Hanson wanted more and more money from her.

Stephanie lucked out when she found another couple she could stay with. The name of the couple was Jeremy and Delouise Goodman. They helped her get to the airport, so she could get on a plane and fly to her mother's place. She was thankful and appreciative for what they've done. Sean Hanson worked for a truck company by the name of "Peninsula Moving Company." They took her stuff to Washington State. Peninsula Moving Company was the cheapest way to go. She was relieved to get to her mother's place. Getting her belongings was also a big relief.

Things were going great, until, one day, Stephanie's nephew, Baltazor, called the counseling center to get some help for her. The next thing she knew, she was being taken to a house. She was given a tour of this place. Later, she was told that she could get better by becoming a resident there, but, at the time, they had what they called a level system. On level four, you could have more privileges. She was a resident She was a resident for about two years. She never had a level drop, until one day, she got two. It was because she didn't see a pan that needed to be washed. She didn't recall what the other level drop was for, but it was over something silly.

It was a dark, Halloween night, and the porch lights were not turned on. Stephanie had a boyfriend at the time. She was going after him because he was carrying her suitcase to get to the bus. She was going to her mother's place to play bingo with her. She fell down the steps, not realizing that the lights were turned off. Being shaken up a bit, she went into the office and told Candace Morganson, the counselor on duty, that she decided not to go to her mother's because she felt a bit shaky. Candace told her that this was just a matter of hurt pride. She felt that she should go anyway. Stephanie ended up going to her mother's after all.

When Monday morning came around, Stephanie was being interrogated by Dudley Dumas, the supervisor of the place. He kept trying to convince her that she was being sexually abused by him. She flagrantly spoke up and said to him, "There is a difference between being verbally or sexually abused." This remark didn't phase him a bit. He ended up calling a cabulance (which is another name for an ambulance), to take her to the University of Washington Hospital in Seattle, Washington. During her two-week stay, she was treated horribly. An oriental psychiatrist, after she said, "You know what, I ought to sue you", threatened her by saying that if she were to sue him, her words would be so twisted up, that she wouldn't even have a chance in court. This frightened her so much, that she kept her mouth shut.

Because Stephanie had been diagnosed as having a schizoaffective disorder, the stigma of it was so bad, that she knew that she couldn't survive the scrutiny of the professionals. They would, most likely put her into a mental institution, or facility, for the rest of her life. As a result of all this, Stephanie decided to try and get a college degree. Years later, she did accomplish that. She was so proud of herself, but yet, she didn't feel that it was good enough. She always felt that she had to prove herself. She was never satisfied. The happiness that she should have felt never registered within her.

Why wasn't Stephanie happy? She wanted to feel accepted by her peers and family. She was treated like a child; they thought that she didn't have anything to contribute to society. She often felt like running away. Running away would solve everything, she thought. No one would miss me, she explained. If I didn't show up for a few days, she murmured, no one would notify the authorities. She was frightened that someone might harm her for the fun of it. It would be a sporting event. The thrill of watching her scream in torment and pain for the excitement of watching her die was unsettling Remembering how the world used to be was pining to her. Those days are gone, she stammered. Repetitiously thinking of the worst scenario was a frightening acknowledgment.

Grilling extraneously, she visioned a pair of boxing gloves. She would put them on, beating the punching bag with full force. This aggravated her to no end. She didn't want her anger to get the best of her. She could tell that this kind of reaction could lead to hatred that wouldn't be good. It would bring out a personality that would be dishonored and disgraced. People wouldn't want to hang out with her. It would certainly dismantle her self-respect and self-esteem. She'd end up being talked about in and around town. There would be no indication of flattery. Being looked down on would be an insult to her integrity. An integrity she inherited from her parents, which was passed on to her kids. Her kids showed a vast array of kindness toward their elders; they showed respect by letting them go ahead of her when standing in a line.

Stephanie was consoled by reading scripture verses from the Bible. It gave her peace like nothing she'd ever experienced before. The comfort gave her a sense of belonging. She knew that God loved her unconditionally. God could heal her from the hurts of the past. Her afflictions vanished. It was like a ton of bricks had been lifted off of her. She no longer had to carry the heavy load upon her shoulders. The relief she felt was unexplainable. Joy came back into her life. In her mind, things were shaping up for the better.

The forgotten smiles of long ago were returning to her face. It was refreshing to see. People were noticing a big change in the way she carried herself. They knew something about her demeanor was contingent. They couldn't believe their eyes. They followed her wherever she went. They had to make sure that what they were seeing was real. She was exactly what the people wanted. They changed their ways. She was an example of how they wanted themselves to be. They elected her to be the representative for their city. Stephanie still made mistakes. She was not perfect, but she intended to make the best out of any situation that would come up. Stephanie had all the confidence she needed now. Her performance would be at her best capacity.

Everywhere Stephanie went, her determination to follow God and Jesus was the best decision she ever made. The change was remarkable. Her attitude about people was a happy one. She never wanted to go back to her old life. She was renewed by the faith of God and Jesus in her life. This was a true miracle of healing in her mind, body, and soul. She wouldn't have it any other way. Stephanie was cured of the dilemma she had faced in her old life. Transforming her character from the old life to the new life was brilliantly done. It was contagious. It started a new trend in her community.

Meandering across the world, the trend in the community began to develop an occurrence of extraordinary circumstances. It caught the attention of young and old alike. Great things were happening. Stephanie Turner's name became known for the transformation of new beginnings into eye-opening delights of pure, satisfactory events. This was tremendously popular; people began to believe in themselves for letting the former (past) occurrences in their lives become new; it was like a new birth of development transpiring into a wave of opportunities. It was inclined to bring creative flows of energy into the existence of persuasive methods of extrapolating excellence.

Stephanie was thrilled about her newfound friendships. She was expounding on the way she's treated these days. The contention came about because of the manifestation that evolved in the community. They told Stephanie that they owed her a big apology. They wanted her to be a part of their family. They assured her that she would be treated well for the rest of her life. She finally felt valued as a person. To belong is the greatest gift to bestow on someone. She will continue to be happy as long as she lives. Granted, she knows that there will be downtimes, but overall, her happiness will shine forth all over town.

The moral of this story is to inform you that miracles can and do happen. You have to believe in yourself. Never doubt the presence of God and Jesus in your life. Stephanie Turner is a testament to that.


2,999 Words.

Written by Anna Marie Carlson
Preferred Author
Friday, April 11, 2025