Working for nothing

My job has to be one of the most difficult that there is.  Not physically, as I am not doing “hard labor”, but emotionally and mentally. 

I don’t think that I have clarified my job on this blog.  My part-time job is as a public defender for juveniles.  This means that when a kid is charged with a crime, I represent them in court.  Most people don’t believe the stories that I tell about the situations that I see (not using names, but sometimes I just describe situations in general terms).  This is a small, exurban area-I can only imagine how much worse it must be in big cities such as Chicago, LA, or NY.

My day today was more frustrating that normal.  I felt as though I was banging my head against a wall.  Kids do stupid stuff.  That is a given. Most research will show that their brains are not mature enough to have a full ability to think through the consequences of their actions.  But, does that really justify them having a criminal record?  Most people I deal with just assume that because it is a juvenile charge, that it will “go away” once they reach age 18.  It doesn’t.

I am very frustrated after a long day of trying to fix broken families and kids who are broken as a result.

On the positive side of things, our daughter and her boyfriend will be here tomorrow evening……we are very excited to spend time with them.  I am hoping that we will be able to spend time with all of our kids, their partners and children.  I never imagined when I was young that it would be so important to me to have all of my children and grandchildren together.  It makes my life.  It makes me tear up just thinking about it.  We would like to have everyone here at our home, but I am not sure that will happen, as our youngest son has a work schedule that makes it very difficult to be here.

Spring weather that teased us the past few days appears to be disappearing for at least the next several days.  Snow and rain showers and highs of 40F are predicted for the weekend.  We have had a run of nice days, so apparently we must pay the price and endure the bad weather.  I have had ideas for the yard this summer-I will put them on hold for a while longer.

I am going to try not to work the next several days-difficult as the piles of files have me surrounded as I sit at this computer, and I have a home office that is right next to the bedroom.  But I would rather not work than work for nothing!

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