After two days of jury selection, I was not chosen for the trial. Shocker.
You know how I was talking about coincidences recently--how they freak me out? It's actually a fascination more than a freak-out; fascinating coincidences give me the same feeling I got as a kid, when I'd lie awake at night and contemplate Nothingness or Eternity.
Some of the coincidences I experience wouldn't happen to normal people. They're the kinds that the universe spends years, decades even, planning and conspiring to pull off. Like off-the-scale bad dates, I have many stories I could share, but here's a good example:
It's no secret that "bad things" happened to me in my grandparents' house when I was a toddler--up until I was about four. Their house was on the Marietta's main drag of Roswell Road until several years ago--after my grandparents and their half-wit son were long gone--when the house was demolished and, in the most brilliant stroke of irony, the East Cobb Church of God was erected (like that verb?) in its place.
Thirty years after those unsavory childhood events, I joined my local AA, which apparently caused membership to expand so much that we were outgrowing our rec hall. Well, okay, maybe it wasn't because of me, but that too was quite the coincidence.
Anyway, finally someone piped up with a plan to move my AA home group, and where do you think that was? You got it.
Simple breakdown: 2-4yrs old: molested in basement of little white house on Roswell Rd.-->12 years later, I am well on my way to being an alcoholic-->14 years later, I move from Atlanta to Marietta-->5 years later, little white house is replaced by church--->7 years later, I join AA-->1 year later, AA home group plans to move to East Cobb Church of God...
C'mon!
And the case I was being considered for this week--the one that prompted a million questions to me personally about whether I could be impartial and whether I believe it's likely a 16-yr-old girl could come forward in 2006 and falsely accuse a man of committing a crime against her from 1999-2003--the one I answered honestly and got myself tossed for? The one case out of 6 being divvied during the only week in 43 years I've ever been called for Jury Duty? That's right, Child Molestation.
It's a crazy world, Boys and Girls.
11 comments:
I hope there's a poem brewing in this.
it's a bit sappy,(i'm a papermaker-not a poet) but this is what came to me when i read it:
The stars align- they weave, they scheme
to hide an evil truth
of things that aren't what they seem-
the lost innocence of youth.
The world is not a friend to us
who bear silent, heavy loads.
it strains our souls continuous,
and with each year it grows
Even changing our surrounds
cannot change the way it feels.
For time may never heal all wounds,
alas, it wounds all heals.
The stars align- they weave, they scheme.
To hide the evil view,
tears down this once disquieting scene
and raise the House anew.
The world's still not a friend to us,
although we still may try
to fight to take it back for us
taking one day at a time.
The stars align- they weave, they scheme.
can't hide the evil- true...
but in this place we'll face that scene
and see our own life through.
we all have our ghosts...fight the good fight, tania
al sailo...13 years sober
Collin, you know I haven't written a poem in over a year.
Ads, I'm glad you wrote the poem. And last I heard, people who write poems are poets.
I think the world is marvelous, by the way, with its stars and sadness and love.
t- i have no doubt you do think that way. i guess what i was saying about the world not being a friend is- it has its own agenda...it's not going to stop for us. life is what you make it. one cannot change the past but can change the future, because for the same reasons, that's still in our heads. not much has changed in my life to affect my way of thinking, but my thinking HAS changed & that in turn, has affected my life.
i read a moving story about you and wrote a peom about alot of us...
And by the way, warts and all...life IS good.
Time to get back on the horse, Tania.
there are no accidents in these lives of ours...that is, perhaps, the ONLY thing I know for certain.
T, I set out to comment on your posting but was sidetracked by today's Google ad that says. "Ask Menstrual Questions." What, pray tell, are Menstrual Questions???
I have a menstrual question: Why does my otherwise sweet, beautiful, polite, and caring teenage stepdaughter turn into a raging monster during that "time of the month"?
I can provide you with a graphic or verbal explanation, which would you prefer?
I think he'd like to get both.
is nothing sacred here?
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