Everything Hangs in This MomentBy Annette Camp June 18, 2025
He sat on the edge of the benchwood hard beneath him.Men shuffled in and out,sentences trailing behind them:time, fines - one word enough to change everything.
He waited.Back straight.Hands clenched in his lap,gripping the outline of hope.Don’t unravel.
Then, his name echoed through the chamber.As his mother silently pleaded:Don’t lock him away from the very soilthat’s just beginning to ground him.Let him keep building the life that now calls to himof second chances.
She wanted the judge to seethe man he was trying to become,not just the moment of his worst mistake.She had watched him fallhard and often, but she had also seen him rise in rehab.
Don’t take this from him,she begged with her bones.Not now.Not when he’s growing likethe agriculture around him.
Let him keep his place at Harvest Farmsnot because he’s earned it yet,but because he’s trying.Because he’s showing up every daywhen it would be easier to run.
She wanted the judge to seethe quiet miracle of him showing up each day to do his work from the inside out.
He stood when his name was called.Not confident,but not crumbling either.Each step forwardwas its own small vow:I’m not who I was.Not anymore.
He didn’t glance back,but if he had,he would’ve seen her—his mother,anchored in stillness.
He would have seen in her eyesnot fear,not pity,but belief.The kind that doesn’t waverwhen the world does.She carried it for him.
After the public defenderstated that he had startedthe New Life rehab program,she said, “That’s a great program.”Those words felt like more than mercy. It was a lifeline.