Originally Posted By RoadTrip Life is Good Sure. Much of the time it might not be. But I've found there is always enough to give you hope. Things have never been really easy for us. Neither my wife nor I have a college education. My wife was the daughter of a man with an 8th grade education who worked his life as the janitor in a Catholic school. The most he ever made was $8K per year. I completed three years of college but dropped out due to issues involving my first marriage. My wife never attended college at all. Regardless of this, we had both worked our way into quite significant well paying positions. Then in an unbelievable streak of bad luck both my wife and I lost our jobs. We were deep in debt and were both out of work for over five months. We had two children and two car payments and a mortgage. But we survived and we survived without claiming bankruptcy. We worked our way back and had gotten to the point where we had enough savings that we thought we were doing pretty well again. Then our son was arrested on a Federal charge of "Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine". Yes, it was garbage. Our son never had an extra dime to his name. He sure as hell wasn't distributing cocaine. How did he get arrested? Blind dumb luck. My son worked as a waiter at a place where a busboy said he could get cocaine from his brother. So my son called this guy and set up a buy about once a week for a bit over a year. What my son didn't know was that this guy's brother was the head of a big Mexican Cartel. One of those huge drug ring busts that hits the headlines captured his supplier and about 18 others (including him). Some of them were "heavy hitters". Some of them were dumb-shits like my son who had no idea what they were involved in. Of course my son was named in the big Front Page article about the HUGE bust of one of the biggest drug cartels in Minnesota. He came to us and was scared as hell. The penalty for the charge he was facing was a minimum sentence of eight years in prison.. He had no access to money and hoped we could provide some. I initially thought no way in hell. But after talking with him I came to the conclusion that although he was stupid, he in was in no way guilty of what he had been charged with. So I hired one of the best criminal defense lawyers in the Twin Cites who specialized in defending those facing Federal drug charges. It cost a shitload of money. The initial deposit was five figures. As the case wound its way through the process the truth did come out. My son was an outsider not involved in the cartel. Unfortunately, since the law counts accumulated buys over time the same as a single buy when it comes to quantity, he was still facing a felony charge. He plead guilty and was sentenced to 6 months in a half-way house and two years of probation. The judge noted that we were in court for the trial, and said it was the first time he had seen parents in the courtroom for a charge like that in his memory. He took our presence and support into account when determining the sentence. My son’s final attorney bill was significantly larger than the five figure deposit we had made. My wife and I contacted the attorneys and said they could bill our son and hope to collect the money over the next twenty years, or we would pay them 50% of the remaining amount owed now if they would write off the rest. They agreed to our offer, so we settled the bill. I will give our son a huge amount of credit. He has been straight as an arrow for the six years plus since the incident, and he has become one of the finest young men I know. At times people do learn from their mistakes. We set him on a payment schedule to pay off a majority of his bill and he has never missed a payment. We are not charging interest, and he will never pay it off before we die, but his regular payment strengthens our trust in him each and every month. Needless to say all of this took a pretty major hit to our savings. That is fine. I am glad we had it available to help him; just as I am glad we were able to pay 100% of our daughter’s college expenses. But when people infer that I don’t know what the hell I’m talking about when it comes to REAL LIFE I have a real problem with that. I have probably faced more REAL LIFE than 80% of the people on LP. And I am still totally optimistic about what the future may hold. I have faced so many times when I could have completely given up and I never did. And each and every time I have remained optimistic, things have gotten better for me rather than worse. Why the hell would I change that now??
Originally Posted By DyGDisney What a great attitude, thanks for sharing. I am guilty of being a pessimist at times, especially lately. I've had a lot going on in my life that is stressful and often depressing. I would love to develop that type of positive attitude to help me through.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 RT - I give you all the credit in the world for what you have accomplished - and your ability to stay 'up'.. ( now keep your mind out of the gutter)... As you know I came from zilch on the SouthSide of Chicago ( the wrong side of the proverbial tracks) - and have done OK for myself also - I wish I could be as positive as you - as my biggest fear in life is to be as poor once again as I grew up. It likely will never happen, but the fear is always there. I like you am very glad for what I have - 2 great kids and a wife of 31 years... I just get angry when stupid things occur that could affect life as we know it. Greedy CEO's, thieving politicians especially low on my list ----
Originally Posted By barboy ///He sure as hell wasn't distributing cocaine. How did he get arrested?/// ---very easy......because this is the USA remember Do you know how many common folk have been f'd over 'by the people'? Ya, me neither..... but I'm sure it's a lot. ///But after talking with him I came to the conclusion that although he was stupid, he in was in no way guilty of what he had been charged with./// I'm not about to go on some LP excavation to dig up an exact quote but I'm almost certain that I read some of your disparaging commentary on those 3 railroaded Duke students. I would think that after witnessing first hand the gov't's wrath upon your own family that you could empathize with others caught in the sticky miscarriage of justice web.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<I'm not about to go on some LP excavation to dig up an exact quote but I'm almost certain that I read some of your disparaging commentary on those 3 railroaded Duke students.>> Sorry... you are thinking of someone else. Was that the case where guys on a soccer team or something were charged with raping a hooker at a party? Certainly wasn't me making the comments. I figured from the beginning the guys were framed.
Originally Posted By mawnck Sure, business is punk, And Wall Street is sunk. We're all of us broke And ready to croak. We've nothing to dunk. Can't even get drunk. And all the while they tell us to smile ... Cheer up gentle citizens, Though you have no shirts, Happy days are here again! Cheer up! Smile! NERTZ! All aboard prosperity. Giggle till it hurts. No more bread line charity. Cheer up! Smile! NERTZ! Cheer up, cheer up, cheer up, Cheer up, cheer, Up cheer, up cheer, up cheer, Better times are here. Sunny smilers we must be, The optimist asserts. Let's hang the fathead to a tree! Cheer up! Smile! NERTZ! -Eddie Cantor, 193?
Originally Posted By dshyates "Life is good" I am in the worst shape of my life. Life is not so good.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<"Life is good" I am in the worst shape of my life. Life is not so good.>> But that means it is bound to get better, doesn't it?? By the way... I didn't start this thread to gain any type of sympathy. None was expected or wanted. In fact it was pretty difficult to post such personal stuff. I just got tired of being treated like I was some kind of a-hole born with a silver spoon in my mouth who had NO IDEA what real people face. I've lived a lot of life and some of it hasn't been very easy -- just like many other folks here. I think my post may have had some effect. You still have no problem disagreeing with me, which is great. But it seems those posts claiming I'm a total idiot being sheltered in the haven of the well-to-do while having no concept of “real-life” have declined. I thank you for that.
Originally Posted By mele It always makes me feel good to hear stories of a kid turning his life around, so thank you very much for sharing your story, RT. Financially, things are better now for my family than they were a couple of years ago but mostly because I started working part time. It's all we wanted and needed. I'm off by 3 pm each day so I can watch my daughter. I feel blessed to have my job even though it drives me nuts. Stuff with my son is in the crapper but hopefully it will turn out the way your son's story has turned out. Someday...before it kills me. (haha?)
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder I can't believe no one has posted this yet. I have a mansion Forget the price Ain't never been there They tell me it's nice I live in hotels Tear out the walls I have accountants Pay for it all They say I'm crazy but I have a good time I'm just looking for clues at the scene of the crime Life's been good to me so far My Maserati Does one eighty-five I lost my license Now I don't drive I have a limo Ride in the back I lock the doors In case I'm attacked I'm making records My fans they can't wait They write me letters Tell me I'm great So I got me an office Gold records on the wall ust leave a message Maybe I'll call Lucky I'm sane after all I've been through (Everybody sing) I'm cool (He's cool) I can't complain but sometimes I still do Life's been good to me so far I go to parties Sometimes until four It's hard to leave When you can't find the door It's tough to handle This fortune and fame Everybody's so different I haven't changed They say I'm lazy but it takes all my time (Everybody sing) Oh yeah (Oh yeah) I keep on going guess I'll never know why Life's been good to me so farrrrrrr.... Yeah yeah yeah
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Originally Posted By wonderingalice SPP... You beat me to it! *L* RT... Once again you've left me speechless, but for one thing... You are one HECK of a great dad. *Hugs*
