Ghosts of Christmas Past- 1977

It is easy sometimes to recognize the big moments in life. We briefly visited some from the 1970's earlier. Things like graduations, marriage and the birth of your first child. Some take years or even decades to recognize. You look back and see that something happened and your life changed. In my life 1977 was one of those. I had graduated from WIU the year before and taken a route sales job with Jewel Tea Company. By 1977 Jewel and I had parted ways and I had taken a job in Abingdon, Illinois making toilets at Briggs Manufacturing. It is reasonable to say something along the lines of what kind of job is that for a college graduate. When you have a wife and child to support you take the job you can get while you look for the job you want. A friend suggested in the fall of 1977 that I apply at the Mary Davis Home. They were looking for a counselor. I got interviewed along with my future friend Mike Blythe. If you don't read his blog Existing in BFE you should. Anyway Mike got hired and started working at MDH on Halloween 1977. I continued to make toilets and figured something would come along. In December I was interviewed again and started working at MDH on Christmas Eve 1977. I worked there for 11 years as a counselor and supervisor then went to work at Hill Correctional Center for 21 years as a counselor and supervisor. I'm often asked if I had a background in psychology or law enforcement. I had neither. My college degree is in history with a minor in political science. Did that make me qualified to counsel juvenile delinquents or adult offenders? No. I think perhaps the key to doing either job is having two things. First a realization that you are not there to punish or rehabilitate them. You need to provide a path they can follow to get there but the walk down that path is theirs. Second requirement is related to the first. It is having a sense of empathy. Put yourself in the other guy's shoes. Realize for just a moment every day that had your circumstances been different that could have been you. A small change here or there, a chance encounter gone wrong, a bit of bad luck, a poor choice in a weak moment and you are in the other chair. So Christmas 1977 finds me with a new job. I had no idea at that time it would be my chosen career path. It turned out to be something I enjoyed and something I felt I was good at.
Tamara, our daughter, was only 3 months old at our first Christmas as parents. In 1977 she was 15 months old and a bigger participant in the activities. We were back in the Galesburg area and here are some pictures of that Christmas.

This is Carol, David and Tamara at my parents' house in Sparta Township.

My Grandmother Byrdis, Tamara, Joan and my older brother Jay.

Tamara with her back to you along with her great grandparents Byrdis and John.

This was our home at the time on Fremont Street in Galesburg. The little rocking chair Tamara was sitting in traveled with us for many years and all the kids enjoyed having a chair their size. The rocking horse to the left was always popular as well. When you look back at Christmas pictures you hope you see your children smiling and happy, your family engaged with each other in the spirit of the holiday. Maybe my glasses are rose colored. Perhaps in my old age I see what I hope to see and not reality. When I look at the pictures, all of them from all the posts, I see a happy family. Perhaps not always blessed financially but at the same time never destitute. Always enjoying each other and the gathering together for the holiday.