Ernesto

Isn't that a cool name. Ernesto is a kid (well he's 19 now) that I met when he was about three or four. His mom was terminally ill and I volunteered to handle the guardianship of her three children pro bono. At the time I was a new attorney. She didn't have transportation to my office so I went to her and I met her three children, Frankie, Christina and Ernesto. After she passed away, I handled the guardianship for them. It was a contested case and took over a year. Several years later, I received a call from an Aunt in the family asking for assistance. Frankie was in trouble at school. So I helped and got more involved with Frankie and Christina who were living with their Aunt in Glendale. In my heart, I wanted them to come and live with me and I would make everything better in their lives, but the reality was that I couldn't have them and I couldn't protect them and I couldn't make everything better in their lives.

Sadly, all these years later these orphans, Frankie and Christina are both in jail. Today Ernesto came to see me. He is such a quiet kid and I had never spent much time with him. I handled some legal work for him and then he said that he really liked my Kincaids. I told him they were prints and post cards and he said that he really liked art. I told him about Adam going to FIDM, art school. He said that he'd like to go to school to learn culinary arts--he really likes cooking. He has a job working one day a week at a hotel restaurant--business is down so they only have him come in one day a week. I told him he should apply to Glendale Community College and I encouraged him to go right then and get an application. He said he might and then I told him to get the application and bring it back and I'd help him fill it out. So he did.

In filling out the application, it came out that he has learning disabilities and that he didn't get his high school diploma because he couldn't pass the exit exam. He applied to another college but they told him he was not eligible for financial aid. This is a kid who makes a whopping $900 per year. He's an orphan. If he doesn't qualify for financial aid, how can anyone? So I told him that I would yell and scream and make sure that he got to go to school.

When Frankie didn't take his GED because there was no bus from the group home on the right day and he didn't have access to a phone to call me, I was so frustrated that I couldn't do anything about it. When Christina asked me for legal advise about her issues, I was so frustrated because I just didn't know the answers--I didn't practice that type of law. Today helping Ernesto fill out his college application felt so good. I can't wait to go to the financial aid office to help him yell and scream.

Opportunity--that's my O. P must be for Pictures--I have six million of them from prior to digital cameras. I have to just trust that all the pictures on the computer will be there forever. Q is for Quiet. As I get older, I usually turn off the radio in the car and I can never get my room quiet enough. I crave and value quiet a lot and I am so grateful when I find it.