The Day Begins and Ends With Beauty- What we do in between is up to us.
The biggest highlight of my probation career was being invited to return to Covenant House in 2014 to speak at their annual fundraising event about my journey….
I attended a Buddhist retreat in 2014 in Weston, Florida, 21 years after my departure from Florida and I refused to leave and return back to Texas without visiting the place that lingered in the back of my mind ALL that time. After the retreat I extended my stay an extra 3 days so I could visit Covenant House. I emailed staff weeks prior and explained who I was how much I needed this moment to come for closure and just take a moment to reflect. It was amazing as staff walked me around the grounds and reminisce.
They invited me to attend to speak at their annual fundraising event, “Night of Broadway of Stars”, in 2015 along with a current resident. This gave me closure, but was also much needed and therapeutic for myself. I felt this story needed to be told to all there and remind them places like Covenant House is needed for youth to grow and find their purpose.
I now feel I completed my purpose in life
I would have never became a probation officer if I had not spent time at the shelter. From the day I left until I started college in the late 90’s it lingered in the back of my mind and I felt a connection with the shelter. I knew whatever I did in life had to do with helping others, motivating others, and inspiring others. I thought I wanted to major in education and teach, but felt kids are too easy and not enough challenge because their minds are so pure and easy to mold. Working with adults in the criminal justice system was a bigger challenge to me. As an adult, you are already stuck in your ways, stubborn, and it’s harder to change as a human being the older you get.
“It’s okay to NOT be okay!”
– Life
Boy has it been an experience. Working in this field since 2002 it has given me quite the view on humans.
My clients on my caseloads are mostly no different than anyone else you see walking around in society with no criminal background I have gathered through my experience. I have had the simple housewife who sat at home and consumed a few glasses of wine before driving to McDonalds and got a DWI to the career criminal who has a background check 7 pages long and is very familiar with the system. All walks of life have sat before me. But the one thing they ALL have in common:
They have trauma or they are seeking happiness in some aspect of their life.
We are all Human. My clients in front of me are no different than the officers on the other side of the desk in the sense we all want the same thing, but are taking different routes to get there.
Don’t let a title, degree, job, or income fool you. Most people have trauma or seeking something to complete themselves in life. Most people are not living True to themselves or authentically.
Everyone sits in my office and gives their assessment interview like everything is okay. But I can tell they are not. They report like nothing is going on, when I know there is. They act like their life is going grand, when it’s not. Why do we do that?
I can see right through BS real quick and have been that way since my memory starts at 5 years old- always reading people…..maybe that’s why I’m good at what I do, but I digress……
So let’s be REAL, not BS, and talk about what is REALLY going on with YOU…. You can’t fix what’s wrong if you are not brave enough to acknowledge it….
The Homeless Probation Officer 