From all appearances Jamie is a nice young man.   Twenty years old, good head on his shoulders, starts college in January.  He has dreams.  His head is screwed on straight, he works two jobs and he's going places.   Hard to believe the kid I met six years ago who had been in and out of trouble for years would turn his life around but he has.  

Jamie's mother has always worked long hours to support the two children she raised, buy a house in a decent neighborhood and see to it the bills were paid and there was food on the table.  "Working poor" describes Jamie's background.   His father has never been in his life and he was raised by a single mom who was raising her sister following the deaths of their parents as well as raising her son.   She has worked two jobs, rushing from one to the other the entire time I have known her.   She's told me more than once that she's sure Jamie would have been in prison if not for me pushing him as hard as I push the rest of the kids around here and I tell her that he would have eventually woken up and pulled his head out of his ass on his own.   Would he have been in prison?  Perhaps... and perhaps not.   We will never know. 

This is the story of how Jamie went from "criminal" to a kid with a future.  The WORK of getting there is his own... I just NAGGED, poked and prodded as needed.   Just like I do with EVERY kid who strolls through my door.   

The first time I met Jamie he was with his friend Devin and my nephew Joe... sitting in my living room drinking a "whiskey sour."  I don't know why they thought the  lemonade they poured the whiskey into would mask the smell... or how they ever reached the conclusion I would not smell it the second I walked through the door.    I am not even sure what possessed those boys...  then.   I do recall taking the drinks away from them and dragging them to the barn for one of my infamous "come to Jesus - what in the hell ever possessed you" meetings.  I do recall the three of them got to pour every drop of alcohol in my house down the drain - I'd rather pour it down the drain than I would have it be temptation and so down the drain it went.   I do remember I put one kid to work scrubbing walls, another to work scrubbing carpet upstairs and the third to work scrubbing windows.   Why?  Because I firmly believe IF you give a kid a chance to THINK about the pros and cons of their actions they will eventually come to the conclusion they made a poor choice when they do something stupid.   

A few weeks later Jamie was arrested.   Possession of Marijuana.  I have long said that "weed" is one of those substances which should be legal (and taxed) so I was not too horribly upset though we DID have a discussion about the stupidity of using and being caught in a country where marijuana possession is viewed as being worse than murder.   He wound up being sentenced to probation and for 18 months he kept his nose clean, got decent grades in school and working part time to pay his fines because he KNEW his mother couldn't afford to pay them.    I must admit that I paid that $180 fine for him initially, and he busted his ass over the next 18 months first getting a job and then paying me back.   I'd do it again in a heartbeat and not just for Jamie.  

During that 18 months he couldn't have any contact with his friend Devin because Devin was also on probation... for selling cocaine.   Probation ended and it wasn't 6 weeks and Jamie was arrested for Possession of Cocaine.. he was with Devin at the time and whether the cocaine was *on* Jamie or Devin is still a mystery to me...   Jamie swears on a stack of Bibles that the cocaine was on Devin and belonged to Devin and I am inclined to believe him, mainly because he's always been "straight" with me.    Another 18 months to 2 years of probation, 180 hours of Community Service and more fines.    He did his community service at the Homeless Shelter, the Community Food Pantry, the Animal Shelter and Goodwill. Why? Because I wanted him to UNDERSTAND that no matter how "bad" he thought he had it... there were others in the world who were a LOT less fortunate.  He learned that lesson well... as you will see later.   

Jamie worked a part time job, went to school and did his community service.   He even came up with a plan, which he submitted to the court, for what he was going to do to turn his life around ... his "Five year plan".  

Today Jamie is 20 going on 21...  I won't say the time between that arrest and now has been "problem free" because it hasn't but he hasn't been arrested again, he's gotten his head on straight and he works hard.   Most weeks I do not see Jamie unless I make an effort and go to one of the places he works... Applebees or UPS.   

When he was here the other day I asked him, yet again, what he planned to do with his life.  I finally got the response I have been looking for... he told me "I want to be a social worker"...   I'm pretty sure my jaw hit the floor when, in response to my question of "WHY? There's no money and little reward in being a social worker." he said "Because YOU cared enough to push me into turning my life around when everyone else thought I was a hopeless case.   You showed me how to do it right and I want to HELP other kids who are like I was turn their lives around."  

We sat down, did the paperwork, submitted it all and he has been accepted to college.   It may be "just" the local community college right now but I predict young Jamie WILL succeed - beyond even my expectations.   

Jamie did something recently which impressed the HELL out of me... and it is a measure of how far HE has come.   Recently he was told of a possible drug house in the area.   He mentioned it to me and I said "what are you going to DO with the information?"  He responded with "IF there was a way for me to give the information to the police without it being known where it came from I would hand it off to the police."  I just smiled...  he's come a LONG way.   

I'm still not sure what I gave Jamie other than HOPE... but perhaps all that he really needed was for someone to care and to teach him how to HOPE again.   

As for Devin... Devin is in prison and I really haven't seen much of Devin since the day I caught the three of them drinking "whiskey sours" in my living room.   Perhaps if I had he would be on a path towards having a LIFE as well.   I don't know... and never will.