Chapter 16: TASTE AND SEE

Chapter 16: TASTE AND SEE

A battle was on the horizon, one I hoped to avoid. In January 2016 I’d received news about my youngest son, Tim, who had been in foster care for 3 years. Social Services was seeking to terminate our parental rights to make Tim more desirable as a potential...
Chapter 15: BREAKING BIAS

Chapter 15: BREAKING BIAS

February 2016 and another birthday in prison. When I first arrived to prison it had been March. I’d had an entire year before my first birthday there and I had watched all year, interested as other women celebrated birthdays and tried to make them special....
Chapter 14: SURPRISED BY JOY

Chapter 14: SURPRISED BY JOY

I think of this as the beginning. I was asleep, maybe dead all my life, before 2016. I was 40 years old. “Mom, I’m not sure I believe in God anymore,” my oldest son Noel explained on the phone. It was October 2015, and Noel had just turned 21. Trying...
Chapter 10: SEX OFFENDER (SO) TREATMENT

Chapter 10: SEX OFFENDER (SO) TREATMENT

Told the program would remove barriers and open doors to privileges, I began in December 2012 with an attitude problem. The intake process began with psychological testing. Afterwards I sulked in the treatment director’s office, arms crossed, sullen. Noticing my...