I just came across an article from 2010. Tracked it a bit further, and wow, just wow. Guy I worked with bout 15 yrs ago, handed two life sentences. Murder, arson and rape. Those were the charges in 2010. When I met him, he had just got paroled for theft and assault. Kind of strange to think how one does things. You try do whats right, you keep the faith. you feel you're doing the right thing. and 15 years later, turns out you were right. We worked together at a pizza place, he was a driver (what we call the delivery guy here). I knew about his past. I was probably what you could call middle management. He didnt strike me as shy, and he definitely didnt strike me as shy either. But life went on. I wouldnt say we formed a huge brotherly love for one another, but we got along well enough. As life went on, I went my way, he went his. Was actually last year one of my old waitress friends asked me if I had heard the latest news. I had'nt. She gave me a brief run down, but I havent actually looked in to it or thought about it till tonight. Long story short, he murdered his girlfriend and burnt her body in a field, then tried to burn his flat down. Along with that, came a charge of raping a 6 year old girl, for which the charges were dropped in 2006/2007 or there about, then reopened.

Its all an age old story. These things happen everyday. I don't mean to sound unsympathetic, or cold or callous, but they do. But these days it only seems to hit home when it pounds down right next you. When you can see the face, hear the name and put all that in to a memory relating to you. For me, remembering the occasional night that we did have a drink after work, and the stories he told me of his previous time in prison, it was all from a different world. I listened, and tried not to judge. He had done what he had done, and had 'paid the price', and made it sound like it was all young foolishness. We all walk our path, who was I too point a finger? God knows I have my own dark moments down memory lane. He told me of his life in the cell, and the conditions, and the things he learned, and friends he made. In no great detail, not like I could write a biography or anything, but enough for the words to stick.The more he told me of those conditions, the more I believed him when he said he was remorseful. At that point he had a girlfriend, and a kid or 2 if i remember. I met her on the occasional night when she came to say hi to him at work. He really did seem on the right path. I left the restaurant industry and well we all did that life thing of going our own way. What sticks with me now, is who he was, and who he was. Sounds a bit strange I'll concede, but that's what it is in my life. All boils down to the same thing, who he was. I could only really say something about who he is now if i actually spoke to him, otherwise it would just be my interpretation of what I've read. Thing is, he really looked like he was trying. He did his job, he made his shifts, he looked like he was trying to get on, move on, get past it. I cant help but wonder how dark a persons life must get, that they have to go down that road. What it is that makes people turn down that road and never find their way back out. Ive never been down that road, or maybe, I looked at it once but managed to somehow not set foot on it thanks to decent friends. I cant imagine being in a place that lonely, where the only friend you have is yourself, and in the same breath, your worst enemy.

I sit here and type this out, and take the occasional photo of our new pup lying sprawled out on my wife. I read what I have written, and take another photo. Some things make you wonder.