Hello everyone,
I had a previous account here but for the life of me, I can't remember the email or anything tied to it. My Name is Bruce Willoughby I started Metalwork/Blacksmithing back in 2002. My wife and I moved to NC from Florida in 2004 where I found a shop to rent and began a fabrication business. (my main focus before all that was computer science.) Working here as a metal fabricator (handrails, Garden gates, deco odds and ends) I was doing fairly well. I was following this site pretty close, I had attended a couple of Blacksmithing seminars in Georgia I was part of ABANA. I made a good friend in a guy named Phil (not sure his last name any longer we fell out of touch) he worked as a smith in Charleston SC I believe. (He gave me a hammer he had for his son I believe and some tongs he had crafted) November 2008 I was forced to close up shop and chase another degree as we were expecting a new baby and I felt this wasn't enough to help out with raising a family even though my wife insisted I remain doing this work. I closed up after I set a deadline on some jobs I had bids out on and it was taking them weeks to decide. Worst mistake I ever made (well that and marrying my high school sweetheart right when I came out of boot camp... I'm no longer associated with this individual 1st wife) I thought of getting into the medical field but didn't think I was smart enough to pass doctor tests(boy was I wrong some of them are complete morons and still have M.D. behind their names) I went on to get a Nurse degree and then on to become an ICU RN at the local level 1 trauma center here in East NC. 7 years of Critical care nursing, watching people suffering on ventilators, dying in bed, begging I untie them, get the breathing tube out and let them die, bring 89-year-olds back to life after their heart stopped and their family insisted I/we restart it and do everything possible. This takes a toll on a person, even the strongest manage to crack. I had had enough and needed out. I left and don't miss it one bit. I can still restart your heart and know what to do when you slice yourself up and will always want to help. But no longer can I be in a hospital unit and watch these people suffer.
I kept all my tools and equipment, dusted it off and attended my first craft sale event yesterday to which we received lots of kind words and reinvited back. This is where I belong, this is what I love to do. Even through the blister and callouses, I love doing this work. I still have all my smithing books, and journals from ABANA. I plan to rejoin ABANA and possibly attend more seminars. I'm here to learn and make the best of this.
I want to say a Thank you in advance to everyone who has helped out in any way on this site or in person. Thank you all for everything you do.
Bruce Willoughby
P.S. Anyone know of Phil I referred to please say hi to him for me I believe he went by Mobjak or something I'm truly sorry I forgot this mans name and lost touch with him
