Some people meet me now and only know this version. the employed version. The dependable version. The leadership version. The one who knows how to steady the room when things get hard. But if you pulled random people from random ages of my life and asked them where they thought I’d end up? Some of them would’ve never guessed this life for me. I have lived in my car behind the same bar that fed habits I thought would swallow me whole. I have skipped meals so my kids wouldn’t have to. I have shown up to work knowing the electricity was out until payday. I have smiled through workdays while privately trying to survive my own life. I’ve buried people I loved. Watched some disappear into prison systems. Watched others lose battles nobody could see from the outside. I’ve learned that grief doesn’t always come with funerals. Sometimes people leave in pieces while they’re still alive. And maybe that’s exactly why I see potential in people so quickly. Because when you’ve li...