"That Promise" - Bobby Wetter tells his story of hardship to the climb back up...and the promise he made himself.

When life throws you into the depths of hardship, the climb back up can seem insurmountable. Bobby Wetter's story is a living testament to the fact that it's possible to emerge stronger, no matter the weight of your past. With candor and vulnerability, he takes us through his transformation from a life scarred by homelessness and crime to one where redemption is not just a distant dream but a tangible reality. His insights into owning one's mistakes and using them as stepping stones for growth will resonate with anyone who has ever felt shackled by their history.

The path to reinvention is a marathon, not a sprint, and Bobby's journey is proof of the persistence required to run that race. Facing the daunting stigma of a criminal record, he recounts the myriad challenges and societal barriers encountered while reintegrating into society. His decision to relocate from the familiar streets of Florida to the promise of a fresh start in Texas illustrates the profound impact of environment on personal evolution. Listeners will discover the powerful influence of self-belief and determination as they follow Bobby's relentless pursuit to build a stable life and home, an odyssey from 'rock bottom' to 'rock solid.'

Writing one's pain onto the pages of a book is no small feat, and Bobby does not shy away from sharing the emotional whirlwind of penning his personal narrative. The therapeutic journey of writing becomes a gateway to healing as he confronts his demons through the power of storytelling. Moreover, his passion for writing emerges not just as a creative outlet but as a vital form of communication, providing a voice to those who struggle to find their own. Join us as we explore the raw and real experiences of a man who chose to turn the page on his past and author a new, empowered chapter of his life.

From Rock Bottom to Rock Solid.

We all have them...every single day, we wake up, we have the chance to make new choices.

We have the power to make our own daily, "Breakfast of Choices"

Resources and ways to connect:

Facebook: Jo Summers
Instagram: @Summersjol
Facebook Support: Chance For Change Women’s circle

National suicide prevention and crisis, hotline number 988

National domestic violence hotline:
800–799–7233

National hotline for substance abuse, and addiction:
844–289–0879

National mental health hotline:
866–903–3787

National child health and child abuse hotline:
800–422–4454

CoDa.org
12. Step recovery program for codependency.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

You were 20 when you got out of prison.

Speaker 2: 0:02

Yes.

Speaker 1: 0:03

OK, ok.

Speaker 2: 0:07

At 15, I mean as a juvenile I accumulated a lot of felonies. I was pretty much homeless around 11 or 12. My parents they were gone and by the time I was 15, they had adjudicated me as an adult and I did in Florida what is called an 11, 29,. 11 months and 29 days on the inmate work farm, and when I got out I faced so many challenges. Just getting out I was 16 years old. I was a convicted felon on a record that somebody could find no longer just juvenile and kept the secret. So I couldn't return to public schools. Alternative schools were the only choice, but those were just people that were supposed to be in jail that were free. So I was learning more about more crimes and more problems than I was learning about school-related issues.

Speaker 1: 1:11

Sure, sure. We were there for a reason.

Speaker 2: 1:14

Right, no, exactly. Like I honestly asked the judge, he was like Mr Wetter, what are we going to do with you? And I was like the best thing you can do, your honor, is just send me to prison till I'm old enough to take care of myself. I couldn't even get a GED at 16. I went and took the test and when I got done, my results came back. As you're not old enough to take the test, you have to be 17. And I was like why didn't you tell me this when I took the test? Oh my god.

Speaker 2: 1:42

Yeah. So it was like I couldn't even get that. So here I am again on the streets, bouncing from house to house, family member to family member. You didn't know, girl to girl, friend to friend, wherever I can lay my head, that wasn't the woods. And finally I was just done and I told him I got locked up on a violation of probation and I was just like let's just get this over with. It's inevitable. This is where I'm heading and it was all because of the decisions I was making, choices. There's the answer, absolutely. And I've been pretty good about accepting that responsibility in my life and that, I think, is what's helped me move forward the most. It's. For years I looked to blame other people and anticipated their empathy, I guess, to say, and I never got it and finally I just had to accept hey, I'm not getting that, and I got to do what's right for me. And as time passed, my family, my kids, my wife, those are the things that I look to do right by now.

Speaker 2: 3:04

Right and everything is moving in place. I mean, it's not been easy. Life still throws things at me, no matter even if I'm making the right choices or not. There's still obstacles, but of course life's not easy.

Speaker 1: 3:18

as a whole, it's not easy.

Speaker 2: 3:19

Absolutely.

Speaker 1: 3:21

But it's definitely how you, the choices that you make and how you navigate it that definitely make a difference, for sure, for sure 100%, and I wish it goes back to the environment of being in a bubble.

Speaker 2: 3:37

When I was a kid. I never had anybody who said, hey, man, look, if you did this or you did that, it would be the right choice. The encouragement was like survive and do what you got to do, kid.

Speaker 1: 3:50

Yeah, survival mode, for sure, Survival mode, and that's a real thing, that's a real thing.

Speaker 2: 3:54

If I try to be the best at the worst parts of life. It was like OK.

Speaker 1: 4:03

You have the best from reading what you wrote on the Mathematica on a hayside. You have the best insights and self-awareness and those one-liners. You know what I mean. The one thing that, where you got me, you sucked me in on your page. Can I read it? Is that OK, you're going to know it. It was, and I'm calling this title of this episode the promise, because what you said was the promise to myself. I would work just as hard at figuring this life out as I did fucking it up. If doing wrong got me to rock bottom, doing right has got to get me something better.

Speaker 1: 4:39

That's absolutely 100% because rock bottom to rock solid and and I think people get in that rock bottom place in their bubble and lose hope and lose faith and just Don't know how to get out of it. And that's where you spin out of control. And and then you have some people that can get out of it and their mindset is just different and and maybe it's a Something that happened like that turning point or something like that that happened for someone. What, what do you think was kind of the turning point for you?

Speaker 2: 5:12

Well, actually being in prison at 16, you know and I mean 17, 18, 19, 20, you know, I was sitting in prison and couldn't even buy cigarettes, you know, yeah, and and it started out as a youthful offender prison, because in Florida, you know, 25 and under go to youthful offender prisons to begin with, and if their time exceeds that Age then you go to an adult prison and you finish out the remainder of your sentence.

Speaker 2: 5:39

But I was a disciplinary problem, you know, and within six months I got a year in the hole and a transfer to an adult prison. You know, and when I got there, you know, I never really was scared of prison. I was in and out of jail and juvies and orphanages and boys homes and 50 different high schools. That being put in a new environment was just the way of life for me, you know. So I wasn't scared of being there. But what scared me, what I was in there for, was just talking to the guys who had been there for 40 and 50 years and to know that they will put you away for a long, long time, long, long time.

Speaker 1: 6:19

You know they're going. This is my life like this way higher flip in life. That is scary.

Speaker 2: 6:25

Yeah, and even when I was, you know, doing my best to be the worst, it was never who I really was you know, I mean, I so feel you on that.

Speaker 2: 6:37

I would do things and feel sorry about doing it. You know, if I did something and I got money, I would like try to try to Compensate my wrong doings by, like, giving money to a homeless guy like you. Go, man, I came up, let me help you too. You know what I mean and in my mind I was doing right to compensate for the things that I was doing wrong. And it doesn't work out like that. You know, wrong is still wrong and you still have to pay the consequence.

Speaker 1: 7:05

You do, you do, but, but you're right, because I can remember thinking that same thing, being there also 1920, 2122, thinking, wow, this could be my life and I really don't feel like I'm like this, like this isn't who I am, what am I doing, what am I doing here? And I did. That's definitely a changer.

Speaker 2: 7:26

It's a game, it is and that and that was my thing. And you know, I even in jail because again I was a disciplinary problem I was given 45 month sentence and I was ready to just write it out. You know, I mean like I can max this out again. I didn't have nothing to look forward to when I got out, but freedom, you know. Yeah, and I and I saw the struggles that I was gonna face as well, and so I was willing to just do the time and Again, I would talk to guys. You know there's one in made in particular, ronnie Maynard. He told me he was like jit, how old are you? And I was like I'm 18. He was like how long you been here? And I was like since I was 16. I got locked up and he was like I was your age when I came here. I'm 63.

Speaker 2: 8:15

That like that gets you right and it's like wow, and and at that point in my life I was the two-time convicted felon in Florida, where they have three strikes. Because 15 I was sentenced, and then at 16 I was sentenced again for another felony, you know. So my next time was Gonna be Ronnie Maynard, you know, and be in there for the rest of my life. So One of the best decisions I ever made was when I got out, I came to Florida. I mean, I left Florida and came to Texas. You know, I left the environment in which all I knew was bad and changed your playground Change.

Speaker 2: 8:55

Yes.

Speaker 1: 8:56

Absolutely yeah.

Speaker 2: 8:57

I mean I had handful of friends willing with open doors and open couches and open rooms to let me back in. But it also came plagued with a bunch of wrongdoing right right.

Speaker 2: 9:11

Yeah, exactly yeah, same for me. So I came to Texas and I had $85, man, and I Got me a job, got me a place, you know, and, and things just started falling in the line for me and I was like this is life showing me that when you do right, things go right for you, right, right. And I was willing to see that. You know, it would have been real easy for me to, you know, follow in my sorrows and be sad about where I'm at and where I've been, and it was just the simple things you know, like opening up the front door and walking outside you know, In the ground know how to appreciate that.

Speaker 1: 9:54

Right, absolutely, and it does give you a new appreciation for freedom, for sure. So, why'd you go to Texas? What made you go there?

Speaker 2: 10:04

Like I had lived in Texas throughout my life. I bounced around a lot. I was California, rhode Island, texas, florida and just in between there throughout my whole life and. It was just a new start. It was not even anywhere I ever lived. I just kind of was like my mom's got family over here somewhere. I'm gonna go that way, you know so you went by yourself.

Speaker 2: 10:28

Yeah, no, absolutely. I got a bus ticket out of prison and they were like where you going? I said love Texas, you know. And they called the courts, the probationary services down there, and they approved interstate compact transfer and and. Wow, so they let you go with nobody to parole, to yes, no, yeah, I just told him, family out there, you know.

Speaker 2: 10:52

Well, you did somewhere right and I found them when I got here. It wasn't hard. You know what I mean. They'd live in a small town. So you just go and hey, you know this person. Yeah, they're right over there. Right, right yeah by the way, I'm your nephew.

Speaker 1: 11:09

That's awesome. So you got out and you just kind of started doing things differently, just kind of Realizing you didn't want to be Ronnie Maynard and doing differently and making different choices, setting yourself up differently, and so really it was all you. It was all you.

Speaker 2: 11:27

You're my yes, and then there was Allie, my daughter.

Speaker 1: 11:31

I mean, I always liked that. That's a beautiful part that she wrote. I was expecting that to be a girlfriend or a wife or someone that taught you love, and at the end of that I was just like ugh.

Speaker 2: 11:42

Oh, she is my everything. She's so much of what I am you know like she's the first person I've ever loved in my life.

Speaker 1: 11:54

That was unconditional love, both ways.

Speaker 2: 11:56

Absolutely, absolutely. And it changed because it showed me that it was real. You know, I never believed in it. Love was a fairy tale, you know you never saw it. Yeah, love was something somebody used to take advantage of you, you know, or, like I say, that's forgiveness you know, Well, you should forgive me because I love you, you know.

Speaker 2: 12:19

And then, once she was born, you know, it was just due right by her man, you know. Just yeah, I took her with me everywhere I went, you know. So she was always my excuse when people be like hey, let's go do this, I got Allie man, we're rolling together, you know.

Speaker 1: 12:40

You knew that probably. That was probably super helpful, super helpful.

Speaker 2: 12:44

Most of the people who know me ma'am know I have no problem. I needed Allie in my life you know, yeah, absolutely. I never had that before.

Speaker 1: 12:57

Yeah. And somebody to keep you grounded and to show you love, and for you to give love too. That's something people don't realize. I think how important that is too something for you to love, not just someone to show you love, but something for you to show love too 100% and to show you know a lot of us are products of our parents' bad choices.

Speaker 2: 13:22

You know what I mean and I understand parenting doesn't come with any handbook, any rulebook, any guidelines. You know a lot of us are just out here winging it and trying to do our best, but the one thing life did offer me through my parents is what not to be. You know what I mean.

Speaker 1: 13:39

Whatever works.

Speaker 2: 13:41

You know you went out to me. Yeah, and that the choices we make don't have to be based on the excuse of I didn't know or nobody showed me. You know what I mean.

Speaker 1: 13:56

It's just putting somebody first you know, you know better, you do better 100% 100%. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 14:05

And then, you know, I also have three other sons, you know, and they keep me grounded as well. You know what I mean.

Speaker 1: 14:13

And what are your son's names?

Speaker 2: 14:15

My oldest is Kobe.

Speaker 1: 14:16

Uh-huh.

Speaker 2: 14:17

Like the basketball player Right. My second is Bryant, like the basketball player, kobe Bryant. And then my youngest, my sweet baby boy. He's Billy.

Speaker 1: 14:32

OK, there's a reason for that, I'm guessing.

Speaker 2: 14:35

I named him after my dad.

Speaker 1: 14:37

OK, ok, and how old is he now?

Speaker 2: 14:41

13.

Speaker 1: 14:43

And how long ago did you lose your dad?

Speaker 2: 14:45

He's still alive. He's still alive. Ok, we just yeah. Now he's my Rita, my mother. She passed away and we never really had a relationship. Everything else was always first with her. But my dad, you know my dad, I remember him being there and I remember him trying you know, yeah, and my dad also, you know. He had the courage to say he was sorry and that went a long way with me For sure.

Speaker 1: 15:29

For sure, yeah, yeah, he was in his bubble. He was just living, doing his best to climb out, probably, you know. So where is he now?

Speaker 2: 15:39

then, he's in California. I talk to him a lot you know, OK.

Speaker 1: 15:45

OK.

Speaker 2: 15:47

We communicate, we keep in touch you know that's good. And, like I said, you know, when I got out I did hold a lot of resentment towards them both, you know, not so much into where I was defined and acting out because of it, it was more like I'll just cut you off and I don't need you, you know.

Speaker 1: 16:07

Sure, that's self-protection.

Speaker 2: 16:10

Right, right, but with my dad, like I said, I reached out and we talked and he has. You know, boy, I'm sorry for the things, the choices I made, you know.

Speaker 1: 16:22

Well, that does go a long way, that does, it does. He was probably pretty young too, if you were. Yeah, so absolutely.

Speaker 2: 16:30

My dad had his problems with drugs, like my mother. You know my parents were both drug addicts and you know, sometimes when you get to that point in your life, that's your responsibility, you know.

Speaker 1: 16:43

Absolutely.

Speaker 2: 16:46

Yeah, yeah, but we're good and I just named him after my pops because you know he's my dad. I love him.

Speaker 1: 16:57

Yeah, absolutely, and, and you couldn't have another Kobe or another Bryant.

Speaker 2: 17:03

No, I didn't like, my wife didn't like the idea of magic. It was like we could just name a magic, just one name.

Speaker 1: 17:16

I love that, but I see where she's coming from.

Speaker 2: 17:19

No, I think you're all the line.

Speaker 1: 17:20

Yeah, super sweet. I think that I saw the pictures on your page and where they're standing there and they're looking up at that wall with Kobe Bryant on it, and that was beautiful. That was really nice. That was really nice. So you have a pretty good support system, obviously.

Speaker 2: 17:34

Now Now I do yes, absolutely. My wife is my rock.

Speaker 1: 17:38

Yeah, it sounds like it and I just want to say how respectful I thought you were when you said let me visit with my wife about this first. I thought that was super reasonable, super old school, respectful. And again you had me. You had me saying ah, one more time because it really is how it should be, it's not a permission thing, it's a respectful thing.

Speaker 2: 18:02

Yeah, and in return she always goes you don't need my permission, do it Right, do you come here?

Speaker 1: 18:07

You don't, but you're being respectful yeah.

Speaker 2: 18:10

And I think that goes. It's not just being we're. You know, through this you're bringing in strangers into your life.

Speaker 1: 18:18

You know what I mean Absolutely, absolutely.

Speaker 2: 18:22

And she needs permission, you know.

Speaker 1: 18:24

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 18:25

I mean, she needs to sign off on that idea, more so than to say permission, you know.

Speaker 1: 18:31

Yeah, but it was just. It told me a little bit about who you were. Yeah, told me a little bit about who you were. Right there, your post was beautiful and obviously you write beautiful and you had some trials and tribulations and you overcame a lot of things and you had some setbacks, but it also showed me who you've become just by your actions. Since I even reached out to you, I can tell what type of person that you've become from just some of those small things that you did. And respect is obviously a big deal these days and it goes a long way and it's kind of missing a lot of places.

Speaker 2: 19:03

So thank you.

Speaker 1: 19:04

That was nice to see that. So obviously you had some felonies in your past and that's tough. How do you think you got through that in the job market and just in your life in general? How do you think that played a part for you?

Speaker 2: 19:26

I tend to turn it into something I'm proud of. You know what I mean. So when I'm in an interview with somebody, it's not something I'm ashamed of. You know, perfect. And usually when I first got out, I wouldn't even answer that question. I would wait to be face to face with somebody. Because, of course, back in 98 when I got out I've been out for, you know, since 1998, everything was paper, it wasn't digital, so you couldn't just like, you can't click this, you have to go back.

Speaker 2: 19:59

And then when I get in the interview, I'm like I'm gonna go back to the interview and I'm like I'm gonna go back to the interview and I'm like I'm gonna go back to the interview and then, when I get in the interview, you know the question would always come up Well, we see you didn't answer this and I would just tell them look, I wanted to get face to face with you and explain my situation. I was a kid who made dumb, dumb choices, you know. Yeah, completely, and the consequence of them choices was to be incarcerated, you know. But I served my debt and I'm not the person I used to be. You know what I mean.

Speaker 1: 20:31

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 20:32

I'm not making those same choices. And, ma'am, I have never, ever, ever been turned down for a job over my felonies, ever. That's incredible, at least not to my knowledge. You know? Right, right, right yeah yeah, no.

Speaker 1: 20:45

I think that's super important because I hear young people today say things like well, I can't get a job, I've got a felony. You see them sitting on the couch playing video games, trying to convince someone else they can't get a job because they have felonies, and it's not true. There's a lot of companies that hire and you have to get your mindset right and you have to want more for yourself. And that's why I wanna do this is I wanna show that it is possible for people, like we said, be at rock bottom and become rock solid. It is possible.

Speaker 2: 21:17

And one of the things a lot of people should take the time to do is like in Texas. Texas is a felon-friendly state, so if you just Google Felon-Friendly Jobs in Texas, You're gonna get a list in very reputable companies. You know what I mean.

Speaker 1: 21:33

Okay, I'll let you.

Speaker 2: 21:36

These are not digging ditches and treading water up to your chest in a swamp did jobs. These are respectable jobs where you can make a living and earn a good wage and provide for a family and put the past behind you.

Speaker 1: 21:51

It's that way here too, and you know there's a lot of programs that do re-merge, like re-merge into society and kinda get it back to working. But ultimately you have to want it. You have to want to do better, you just have to.

Speaker 2: 22:08

Nobody wants to do that. That's what it boils down to. That's what it boils down to is what you truly want for yourself and what you feel you deserve. You know, unfortunately, a lot of kids or people in the situations that I found myself into. They don't even know how to love themselves, let alone have any worth in themself to say. I'm worth more than this, you know.

Speaker 1: 22:31

Yeah, that is a problem.

Speaker 2: 22:34

There's so many things intertwined with that, but as far as jobs and stuff like that, I have never had an issue finding it. My hardest thing with jobs is actually staying with a job, because my personality doesn't allow me to tolerate a lot of things, you know, and BS starts to build up. I'm just like, look, I'm out of here, I'm gonna find a job somewhere else, you know.

Speaker 1: 23:02

It's not a bad thing, though that's not a bad thing.

Speaker 2: 23:05

No, no, it's not. It is what it is. I've never put us in a position to where you know I was out of work for years at a time, or months at a time. You know I'll go find a job tomorrow. There's always been my saying.

Speaker 1: 23:20

Well, that's good for you, and I'm really happy to hear that you are proud of where you came from, because I think that is so flippin' important to get past some of the things that we've been through. Be proud of who you are, because it's what got you here today. I'm actually looking.

Speaker 2: 23:37

I mean when, if you know I've had people try to discourage me in the past and you know I'm just like, put yourself in my shoes, dude. You know how many people have turned out worse than me. You know, or you know most people can't fathom the idea of I mean again, my sons and I never really did this much with my daughter, but with my sons when they were the ages that I was living the way I did, I couldn't even imagine them going through the things I went through, you know, like sleeping on the streets at 12 years old you know yes.

Speaker 2: 24:15

Wondering where you're gonna find food at 12 years old, you know. Wondering when you're gonna take a shower again, you know, and again it makes me proud that I got through that, so that they don't ever have to see that life you know, absolutely, and you changed it.

Speaker 1: 24:30

You know they talk a lot about generational curses. You know you obviously changed that for your family and did something different, made some different choices and made it go different for your family. And that's huge, absolutely, that's huge.

Speaker 2: 24:45

And I'm thankful for that. You know, I'm very, very thankful for it. Yeah, I have siblings who don't make those same choices, you know, and so I've seen the outcome of those wrong choices. Again, it just boils down to the choices you make for yourself, and I wish people understood that was their biggest obstacle in this life. You know it's the choices you make for yourself are gonna determine where you end up you know, get out of your own way, just get out of your own way 100% and deep down inside, no matter how bad I was or the bad the things I was doing, I always knew what I was doing was wrong.

Speaker 2: 25:28

I never felt like, oh, I'm doing the right thing by doing this. Yeah, Well, that's good, Bobby, that's good Like it's. So. There was this item that knew, If I felt that way, there's no way I'm gonna continue doing this. You know, Because at some point I can't be like it's my parents fault. It's my parents fault. It's my parents fault. You know, I can't be in my 30s blaming my parents for the choices I make you know they still do.

Speaker 1: 25:55

But people still do that. They're whole lives. They're whole lives.

Speaker 2: 26:00

Absolutely.

Speaker 1: 26:00

What they did, and that's what they did to me and that's what they did to me. And I understand people have been through some horrific things, and of no fault of their own. But there comes a point where you have to say, okay, now it's on me and I can either deal with it and change it or I can just keep living it. And there's that point where you gotta kind of just make that decision and say I'm done doing that, I'm gonna live differently 100%.

Speaker 1: 26:26

Yeah, it's good to see people do that and it's good to just acknowledge you know where you came from and be proud of it like you're doing. I think that's awesome. I think that's, you know, a good way to talk to people and a good way to free your kids to understand. Like, I have my son's 12. So, just like you said, I can't imagine him doing some of the things that I was doing at 12. I look at him. I'm like was I that young when I was doing those things? Are you kidding me? It's just, it's unreal. It's like a whole different life.

Speaker 2: 26:58

No, I know 100%. You know, I say the same thing. When I was 12 years old, I was on a Greyhound bus for the most of the year just traveling the country, because nobody wanted me. You know, like I was just a problem for everybody, I showed up to you know I was a burden and I would run away, you know, and just get on a bus and go and stop at a random town, do the things I knew how to do to get money, find me a homeless guy on the streets and give him a little money and, hey, will you buy me a bus ticket? You know.

Speaker 2: 27:31

I don't care where you make it to, I just need a place to stay for a couple of days in a Greyhound bus. Well, it first me that you know, and I look at my kids and I was like there's no way they'd be able to navigate that Right. And you know, I'm glad that I get to provide that for them, you know, and I'm glad they don't have to make decisions like that.

Speaker 1: 27:52

Absolutely.

Speaker 2: 27:53

That validates my choices you know For sure, for sure.

Speaker 1: 27:58

So, javi, what do you kind of do now to keep yourself, I don't know, to keep your mental health strong and to keep yourself, you know just self care. Do you do anything on a daily, weekly, monthly basis that you would consider to be keeping your you know, self care going?

Speaker 2: 28:17

I write, I love to write, and it's very cathartic and it's very therapeutic for me, you know, and if something bothers me, I write about it, and if it bothers me enough, I burn it when I'm done writing it, you know, and I move on, you know. Or it's even empowering, just to hit the lead after writing a 10 page journal entry, you know.

Speaker 1: 28:42

So that's like get it out. You get it out, deal with it and move on.

Speaker 2: 28:46

It's emotional. You know it's emotional and you go through the changes. You know my whole life since well, not my whole life, but you know the past 20 years or so, since I've been sharing some of the things I write. People have always encouraged me to write a book.

Speaker 2: 29:00

You know and you write so well, you need to write a book, but nobody takes into consideration the emotional toll it takes to write stuff like that. Absolutely, because if you're just if you're reading it, crying, imagine what, living it and rewriting it, you are so right about that.

Speaker 1: 29:17

You're so right about that. What's in your heart is emotional. Getting it out on paper is a lot.

Speaker 2: 29:24

And it's not just that you know if the book was to go somewhere, reliving it every time somebody asked a question, you know, yes.

Speaker 1: 29:32

Yes.

Speaker 2: 29:33

Because I have dealt with it, I have moved on, but that doesn't mean the pain wasn't real. You know, and and again, the things I've moved past. I think I've conquered them and to move on with them, you know, but things still come back. You know your mind is a crazy thing, absolutely. But yeah, as far as that it's just and I have no problem speaking, you know to, to people about things that bother me, you know. So I'm not the kind of person that holds a lot of things in. That's good. I heard somebody say one time conflict negated is conflict multiplied.

Speaker 1: 30:13

Well, that's good. Yeah, that's pretty true, that's pretty true.

Speaker 2: 30:17

And I don't work well with those equations. You know, it's better, let's deal with this, let's get over it.

Speaker 1: 30:22

Yeah, move on, you know move on, because can you imagine today, like who you are today, and then saying you're going to prison for five years? No, it's not, we're not the same people. Like you said back then, you weren't scared, but now the thought of that is like no, it's fairly different.

Speaker 2: 30:45

And you know fear wasn't so much to do with it either when I was younger is it was like juvie sometimes was the better option you know, sure, sure that place is down. We had facilities. People don't know the struggle of the streets. You know, when the sun goes down, yeah, when the sun goes down, the world is a different place, you know? Yeah, and juvie was an alternative. No, I was the free world, you know.

Speaker 1: 31:12

It makes it easier and harder in certain ways. You know what I mean Easier to be there, because you're not talking about the free world, but easier to stay down also. No, absolutely you don't have any concerns. But when you got out and you made those changes, you changed that aspect.

Speaker 2: 31:29

Right? No, absolutely. I found something to have you know.

Speaker 1: 31:33

Absolutely. I think that's beautiful. Yeah, I really do appreciate you doing this with me. I think it's important to be able to let people know everybody goes through struggles, Some harder than others, maybe some. You know all those things, but we all have them. I don't know anybody's life that's perfect Nobody's perfect but just to let people know that there is good choices to be made and you can always do better and you can come up from where you are, I think it's really 100% you know, at the end of the day, it's on you and it's on the choices you make and it's on the direction you want to take your life, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 32:21

Absolutely Not saying that it's always easy, just saying it is always possible.

Speaker 2: 32:26

Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 32:29

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 32:30

No, and I thank you for the opportunity. I do, I do, I do. Thank you for taking your time. Thank you for taking the time to read. That means so much to me.

Speaker 1: 32:40

You do write beautifully, and if you ever wrote a book, I would definitely read it.

Speaker 2: 32:46

Again, I mean my whole life I've written. I'd like to write, Even as a kid. I would have a composition book where I would just write, write, write, write, write. That's awesome, Because I never had an outlet to speak to anybody. That is my thing.

Speaker 1: 33:06

Do you have a lot of your stories, stories and books?

Speaker 2: 33:10

The ones on paper yeah, I've lost a lot of them. The ones on the computer I've saved. I've got a lot of stuff saved. It's hard for me to write chronologically because it don't come to me chronologically.

Speaker 1: 33:23

Sure, like a bio-25. Like I told you about this, I just want to have a conversation. I don't want to interview anybody, I just want to talk.

Speaker 2: 33:33

That's great, I love it, which made it a lot easier for me. If the questions were very direct in everything, I would feel more uncomfortable, but no, you made it really easy to talk to. I appreciate the time and effort that you put in this.