New carpet and a pleasant surprise...
The very effiecient Jon at Lowes had us scheduled for our carpet installation today at 9 o'clock this morning. I was disappointed as they arrived at 9:09. Actually I was pleasantly surprised. I've had scheduled appointments with tradesmen who showed up 4 or 5 hours late, without calling, as if the customer had nothing else to do but sit at home for half a day.....I won't mention names but does a cable company with Cox in their name ring a bell?
The pleasant surprise was not that the installation guys were on time but that the face at the door was a familiar one. It was one of those TV sitcom kind of recognitions, not instantaneous, but the kind that take several seconds and then the light bulb appears over your head. And without thinking I actually uttered a sitcom line, "hey I know you". John [named changed] said, "yes you surely do".
I knew John almost 8 years ago when, for a three year period, I was a drug and alcohol counselor working mainly with convicted felons. The people in our program had felony convictions involving drugs and/or alcohol and our program was their last chance to try and straighten out their lives through sobriety before they were carted off to the "bighouse" down at Huntsville. If they completed our 6 month program, they would be put on parole without being further incarcerated. Our program was a half-way house arrangement after these folks had already completed a lockup style 6 months of intensive drug treatment and "re-education" called SAFP, short for Substance Abuse Felonly Punishment.
John was one of the many who made it. I had not seen him since he graduated from our program, but I add him to my list of those I have seen over the years who are doing well. Instead of becoming a statistic of continuing criminal activity, John turned his life around and now owns his own flooring business with five employees. And...they did a great job and were in and out of the house within a half an hour.
Having "been there and done that" with substance abuse, SAFP was an initiative of Governor Ann Richards. It works, I'm proud to have had a part in it, and my Christmas season will be a little brighter knowing that one more person is doing well and won't be spending the holiday season in a cell.
The very effiecient Jon at Lowes had us scheduled for our carpet installation today at 9 o'clock this morning. I was disappointed as they arrived at 9:09. Actually I was pleasantly surprised. I've had scheduled appointments with tradesmen who showed up 4 or 5 hours late, without calling, as if the customer had nothing else to do but sit at home for half a day.....I won't mention names but does a cable company with Cox in their name ring a bell?
The pleasant surprise was not that the installation guys were on time but that the face at the door was a familiar one. It was one of those TV sitcom kind of recognitions, not instantaneous, but the kind that take several seconds and then the light bulb appears over your head. And without thinking I actually uttered a sitcom line, "hey I know you". John [named changed] said, "yes you surely do".
I knew John almost 8 years ago when, for a three year period, I was a drug and alcohol counselor working mainly with convicted felons. The people in our program had felony convictions involving drugs and/or alcohol and our program was their last chance to try and straighten out their lives through sobriety before they were carted off to the "bighouse" down at Huntsville. If they completed our 6 month program, they would be put on parole without being further incarcerated. Our program was a half-way house arrangement after these folks had already completed a lockup style 6 months of intensive drug treatment and "re-education" called SAFP, short for Substance Abuse Felonly Punishment.
John was one of the many who made it. I had not seen him since he graduated from our program, but I add him to my list of those I have seen over the years who are doing well. Instead of becoming a statistic of continuing criminal activity, John turned his life around and now owns his own flooring business with five employees. And...they did a great job and were in and out of the house within a half an hour.
Having "been there and done that" with substance abuse, SAFP was an initiative of Governor Ann Richards. It works, I'm proud to have had a part in it, and my Christmas season will be a little brighter knowing that one more person is doing well and won't be spending the holiday season in a cell.
