Bent

Broken \bro-ken\ adj
reduced to fragments; fragmented
ruptured; torn; fractured

not functioning properly; out of working order

Bent \bend\ adj

                   changed by bending out of an

                     orig. straight or even condition

                    strongly inclinded:  determied

Words from another song I like:  We're not broken just bent

For a long time I felt that my family was broken. Nothing seemed right and it was hard to keep moving.  The first time I heard the song that has the above words in it, I smiled. I am guessing that means that we are healing, because I no longer use the word broken to describe us. Are we healed?

                            No, I guess we could be described as a little bent, but we sure are on the right track!

Net  

My silly life

Every now and then a line of a song will stick in my mind for whatever reason. There is a song by the artist Pink! that makes me smile every time I hear it.

Made a wrong turn once or twice

fought my way out blood and fire

indecision, that's alright

welcome to my silly life.

I went to the correctional center to become a sponsor for my son. Sponsorship orientation can be done every 2nd and 4th Monday of the month and once this training is done you are able to take any incarcerated person on outings and furloughs.

On the night I went to orientation, they gathered all of us into a room and we sat at tables of 4. We first had to fill out the paperwork so they could do back ground checks on all of us who are hoping to help our loved ones through this next phase of their lives. I patiently helped a young girl to fill out her address in the assigned area, while trying to ignore the 2 young men who could not remember every time they were arrested in the last 5 years. They must have succeeded because at one point one of the guys showed the other his paper, and the 2nd guy said "Oh yea, I forgot that one". 

The instructor then gave us all the rules and expectations that we were to know. Taking my duties very seriously, I wrote so many notes I had to write on a 2nd piece of paper.  When done with the class we were to stand in line so our paperwork could be inspected for obvious errors.

Oh No!!!!  I have written notes on the back of my form which is used to do my back ground check! This has to be a major violation, but now all I can do is admit to the error. Once at the front of the line I explain to the guard what I have done and offer to rewrite my form. He smiled and told me they would be able to use the one I had presented them with. WHEW!

As I go further with my story I must explain one more thing. For years I have been praying to God that I will know why I am in this situation and what he expects me to do with this experience.

As I begin the hurried walk back out to my car, eager to get home, I very clearly hear in my head

"This is what you will be doing".

Whoa was that you God?? 
Actually my first thought was "Are you kidding me????"
As I had prayed, I was sure I would get some sort of really cool job from God, you know something that would put me in the same category as Mother Teresa or at least had me raising a staff above my head to guide many people.

In the car I listened to a dvd of the rosary, which I will usually pray on the drive home. Half way through the rosary, I begin to laugh hysterically.  I just helped a young girl whose english was not that great, sat with men who must have a lengthy arrest record, may have possibly heard God speak to me, and responded with what may have been a polite no thank you......

oh yea, welcome to my silly life!

Net

Family Incarcerated

Recently I was describing to a gentleman my typical day, where I go to pick up my son for work and how our family shares the responsibility of getting him back to the correctional center.

 His comment was "He is a very lucky boy".

Yes, he is. I know of many men who have no family visits and no support system.  We know that we are his link to the outside world, and are working to make it our goal to get through this difficulty as a family.

Over the years I have searched the web on various book sites for books that would give me insight and direction for my situation. One particular day I found a title that interested me and I was going to go back and read the description a few minutes later.  I believe the title was "Family Incarcerated".  And of course, I was never able to find that title again to read about the book....

so I made up in my mind what I felt the book was about.

In my minds eye I see the book to be about a family with a member who is incarcerated. The family would pull together. They would, in some sort of way, find themselves also incarcerated due to the fact that they are now tied to collect phone calls, body searches and drug sniffing dogs to see the loved one. I see the struggles they face in coming to terms with the incarceration. In this book you would read how they learned to navigate through the system, and just as they got comfortable in knowing what had to be done, things would change. Slowly they would discover their way and the path would get easier.

I believe the book would describe how the hopes and dreams of their future would be changed to different hopes and dreams. The new path their lives would take would prove to not necessarily be a wrong path, just a different path.

I think there would be humor right beside the tears, and that in the end the family would come out to be better people than they were before the hardship.

The end.

Or maybe the book was about an entire family of wrong doers who all got busted. 

Hmm, I like my version better.

Net