December Update

Brrrrrr…..its a chilly Friday morning, I just stepped out on my deck to check the thermometer and it currently reads 2 degrees F. In checking the forecast online I see we can expect temperatures below 0 in the next few days with this cold front that has moved into the State, into the Midwest in general. I’ll venture out here in a bit, have some holiday shopping to do among other things and I prefer to do this on weekdays vs the now crazy busy weekend days. From what I heard about the huge turnouts for the big sales blitzes (Black Friday, Day After Thanksgiving Sale, Cyber Monday (online shoppers) last week, in fact many stores opened Thanksgiving evening to kick off the frenzy, one would think everyone had pretty much completed their Christmas shopping, but not so, it truly is the season of shop till you drop.

It has been 7 weeks now since Coreys release and so much has happened in those weeks. The journey, happily, has been much easier, much less fraught with anxiety (other than my own inner demons that can ‘imagine’ and worry about everything than could possibly go wrong and keep me awake nites!) than we’d expected. In those weeks, which I’ve posted about already, he tested and got his drivers license, was allowed daily passes to job search, shop and prepare his own apartment to move into. Exactly a month after arriving at the HwH he was granted Home Confinement and has been enjoying the privacy, peace and comfort of his own place after almost ten years of sharing living quarters with well over a thousand men. Corey seems incredibly content and so many of the little (stress?)lines he would complain about that had taken up residence on his brow these past years just simply are no longer there!

AND yesterday he started his new job. The aspect of his finding secure employment (if that even exists anymore)was perhaps MY biggest concern and yes, worry. For all the reasons I posted about in earlier posts. Corey of course didn’t appear to have any of MY reservations or concerns, he just knew without a doubt he was going to find a job. I love that about him! Despite all his qualifications (prior to imprisonment), including the two degrees he earned while imprisoned, we knew many employers would give him a pass, the “idea” of the felony making them uncomfortable, despite the fact his was a first time, nonviolent offense, the fact he had never stolen from anyone, never hurt anyone. But hit the streets he did, riding the city buses every day, to distribute his job applications and resumes, never once doubting he’d hear back from some of them soon.

AND he had calls for interviews within days. Within a week both Nordstroms and Sports Authority, among others, called to schedule interviews. Just days post interview, Nordstroms called to offer him a job (followed by Sports Authority, the very next day) and though it took two weeks before he could finally go to work for them, due to HWH hoops he had to jump through (time wasting bureaucracy!), that being pretty much the only frustrating experience that tried his patience since arriving in the city, Corey went to work.