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ABOVE Michael’s handcrafted pens are made from exotic and native wood. Some are even made from olive wood imported from Israel. Their first anniversary was made even more special by the fact that it was also Michael’s parents’ 50th wedding anniversary. “My mother and father-inlaw are the best people in the world,” said Natasha. In the weeks and months that followed, Michael and Natasha realized that finding work wasn’t going to be quite as easy as they’d imagined. “I started out as a Med Tech and advanced to a Clinic Manager over a nursing staff,” said Natasha. “I worked my way up. I’ve been in Healthcare for 20 years at UNC Chapel Hill and in Healthcare Management for the last ten years managing three clinics.” Michael grew up in Tennessee and moved to North Carolina in 2010. The opportunity to learn woodworking, leatherworking, photography, welding, and some metal casting in junior high school provided him with both a foundation and hands on experience. “I enjoyed it all,” said Michael. “And I’ve always liked to learn. My parents gave me that. They cultivated a love of learning in my upbringing.” Love for learning was not simply an idea Michael’s parents, Joe and Sheila Payne, talked about, but one they demonstrated by example. In fact, Joe’s father was in his 60’s and retired when he decided to go to machining school where he graduated with honors. “He didn’t do it to learn something to make money. He wanted to learn for the sake of learning. He and another man have a shop in Tennessee. It’s not a business. It’s basically something they do just to help people. My dad is always looking to learn new things.” Like his father, Michael decided to go back to school in 2012 for an Associate’s degree in Machine Technology at Randolph Community College in Asheboro, North Carolina. In May 2014, at the age of 46, he graduated at the top of his class with honors. It was while going to school that he and Natasha met. “It was August 2013, and I was just standing around talking with a group of friends in the K-mart parking lot when Michael “When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.” Alexander Graham Bell 50 Toombs County Magazine


20204RD
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