The Verdict

Well, if I had had more than 1 hour to get on the computer outside of work in the past 4 days I would have let you all know that all has been well since Tuesday at noon.
Tuesday morning, we all arrived at the court house and waited in the hall outside our court. Little did we realize, we were in for a few more hours of waiting. We were taken back to the Jury deliberation room and sat and waited for about 1 1/2 hours. The judge came by at one point to tell us he hadn't forgotten about us, but there was an issue with the translators (neither the defendant nor the victim spoke English). We were given a 15 minute break, and then the judge came back and said they would be letting us into the court room where they would explain everything to us. We entered the court and the judge explained that the defendant signed a statement earlier that admitted that he agreed with the allegations. Thus, the trial would only consist of a closing statement by the state attorney.....Halleluia!!!!!!!!!!!!! The man was accused of aggravated attempted sexual assault. Aggravated because the victim was under the age of 14. The only wittiness to testify in the case was going to be the young girl. I was afraid I'd break down in tears or throw-up if I had to listen to a young girl give an account of a sexual assault, weather she was telling the truth or not, I don't think I could have sat through it. However, I know I was qualified to be up there on the jury, since I can see two sides to most issues and can grasp the concept of innocent until proven guilty. So, after the attorney read the statement, we were sent back to the jury room to vote on a verdict after reading the statement and the court documents. It was a unanimous vote of guilty. We marched back into court. Our representative read our verdict to the judge and we were sent home. I was so relieved. So relieved. God answered my prayer. Halleluia!
So, I did have a get out of work free card in my hand, but I decided to call work and let them know and call the client I had been assigned to. I arrived at the client (American Heart Association - just 5 minutes up the road from me) at 12:30 PM, I didn't get to leave until 10:30 PM. With about 1 hour for dinner, I worked 9 hours in the same day that I was on a jury. It was a bit of a draining day. I worked at the same client on Wednesday for 12 hours. I was then re allocated out to a benefit plan audit (never done one of those before, but not to worry, neither has my senior) in Fort Worth, Texas, a messily 1 hour drive without traffic. Oh well, pretty cool company, Alcon. They have a huge complex out in FW with a great store where they sell some of the items sold by the company's they own: Galderma (my favorite), Nestle, Purina, but mostly eye care products. All these products are sold at cost or below in the store. I was able to stock up on Cetaphil (my favorite) for $1.75 for the big 16 oz.ers and $1.25 for the small travel size! Next week (for the 2 days I won't be doing inventory or in California for Leslie's Wedding!!!!!) I will pick up some bags of Nestle Tollhous chocolate chips (for their cookies of course!) and maybe even some backs of Nestle Halloween candy. Well, I'll be out there through he rest of September, so I'll have a chance.
So, Thursday morning I leave for Los Gatos, CA. I'm going to spend 3 full days with my best friend from 2nd grade! I am so excited. We are going to have a blast!!!
All right, I must get to bed and get some much needed sleep to be able to keep up with my 3 year olds tomorrow morning. We have an escape artist this year who also has some slow mental skills, so she's a handfull, but I love her. For some reason, last year we had more girls than boys and our class was quiet, well behaved, and agreeable. This year we have mostly girls and they are noisy, messy, and hyper. Oh well, I guess that's what you get for stereotyping.
Much love to all :)