exactly where we were

Sitting here, exactly where we were sitting six years and five days ago, in the same twinkling light of the Christmas tree, and just about this exact same hour of night.Thats when the phone rang and we got that call that Marva was murdered.

Strangled to death. By him. Her boyfriend. Her son's father. My friend.

And here, now, at this exact place and exact time, we sit watching a Channel 13 News' segment featuring Marva's story as an example of how convicts incarcerated for violent crimes can be released early from their sentence for "good time" and participating in different programs offered to them in prison.

The segment was originally aired in October, but fate's irony wasn't lost that this should be the exact place and exact time we should first watch it.

Her killer was originally sentenced twenty years for manslaughter but immediately "earned" ten years off.

In some states, like Indiana, a convict chips away one extra day from his sentence for every one day he serves on "good behavior." Its kinda like a 2-for-1 deal. But the math doesn't quite come out right. He never served the first ten years in order to shave away the other ten years.

And then...

He shaved off two more years for obtaining a business degree and one more year for obtaining another degree in applied sciences. He lost six months for participating in a character development program and another six months for completing a substance abuse treatment group. He also managed to get out of an additional six months of his sentence for agreeing to a work-release program.

A twenty year sentence, a lost life, all wiped away in about five and a half years.

From time to time, it overwhelms me. All these thoughts... these raw emotions... and again I find myself sitting...

exactly where we were...

"... For the Lord will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants... for he avenges the blood of his children and takes vengeance on his adversaries..." Deuteronomy 32:35-36, 43