My last ten years was kinda rough. It was a lot of faults I was makin’. But in the past twelve months, things really turn around for me…
May 7, 2014.
You can’t forget the date when you do something bad. I was subpoena to go in front of the judge—not for something good, but for dirty urine.
I was really nervous about going to court. All kind of negative thoughts came to mind—I thought I was getting sent back to prison.
My friend Miss Edrie Irvine and my editor, Susan, came to court that morning. My eyes tear up, because, I didn’t want these people, who mean a lot to me, to hear I done bad things, like taking drugs. But now I know they my true friends, they still stay with me.
I was especially mad that day when the judge told me I had to go to a drug treatment program.
The parole officer said I should be in jail till the program get a bed space. But after the lawyer handed the judge 22 pages—all the recommends from my customers and a picture of me and my editor getting interviewed on TV—the judge took a 15-minute break.
She come back and stated that she read over the recommends. I think the judge felt I do something for society and that we all deserve a second chance. She give a ruling for me to stay in society until they got a bed space at the program.
I clapped my hands under the table, because I wanted to be free. I didn’t want to see jail at all.
After court that morning, me and my lawyer talk. I told him I appreciate him for helping me stay out in society until I go in the program. He asked me do I think I could make it through the program without getting in trouble.
I told him, “I ain’t got no other choice because I don’t want to go back in jail.” And he said, “I hope you do right man, because you got a lot of people pulling for you.”
It like a scale—I knew that more than anything I didn’t want to go back to the prison system. Also, I didn’t want to let the people down who supported me. I never had this many people I can open up with. That’s what I believed would keep me focus, what would give me strength. They people who accept me for who I be.
It also give me the strength that day in court and made me feel good that I have people to sit in with me. When I used to go to court I didn’t really have no support. That also lets the judge know you have some people that care for you.
I want to thank the judge for the sentence to the program and for helping me get my life back on track.
Next I’ll tell you what happened when I went back to court 11 months later. Then I’ll be telling you my story about all that happened after Katrina, after I was evacuated to D.C.
Coming soon on Amazon: My Katrina story for Kindle.
