i look back fondly at the months and years following his arrest. i don’t know how the kids and i have such happy memories during those hard times. my days off were spent at the beach or the park, camping out in the living room, or building cardboard playhouses. i worked two jobs, the first one started at 5am and the second one finished at midnight. i would carry each of them to the car at 4:30am and drop them off with their aunt. she would get them ready for school and drop them off. then i would pick them up from some other family member after midnight, carry them up to their beds. it broke my heart missing so much time with them but eventually we had saved enough money that i could quit my morning job and the first time i took my kids out for ice-cream (off the dollar menu at macdonald’s) i knew we would be ok.