Born Free, Free As the Wind Blows!

The last time we had a celebration on the blog was late June / early July. Specifically here. This was when I got the job offer to my current job. Today, we're celebrating for a whole new reason.

I am FREE AT LAST! 

Allow me to explain. Get comfy. Good? Good.
[for the record I'm OK sharing this with you because it's technically public knowledge anyway if you know where to look]

Anyway... Back in 2012, I had to file a police report due to some checks that I obviously didn't write. After about 6 months of talking to the investigators and looking at bank video footage and ultimately deciding that I didn't know the man that was cashing the check, I thought things were going be a simple closed case. WRONG. I got arrested. The reason? Filing a false statement. Which, by the way, in case you didn't know: that's a felony. So yeah. At the time I was heavily pregnant (about 8 and a half months) and totally freaking out. 

Fast forward a year to the end of 2013. By now I had been to court what felt like a million times. I had a really good lawyer and both of us were confident that when we went to the final hearing that I'd be let go, completely free. Boy were we wrong. SO very wrong. Not only did I not get to go away freely, I got probation, court fees, and community service hours. Which, yeah, is not that bad (you didn't go to jail Melissa!) but it still SUCKED when I had never (EVER) been in trouble before. Did I say EVER? So yeah... that happened.

Fast forward to July 25,2014: I got the best phone call in the world. Keep in mind, by this point I had been on probation for 8 months, paid the courts / probation outrageous amounts of money and completed community service hours. (That last bit seemed like it would take forever). So the phone call. I recognized the number. Of course I did. It was the probation office. My immediate thought was, "great... what the hell could this be about" Because, obviously something had gone wrong. I'm so glad, but I was wrong! It was my officer calling to tell me that I have completely paid off my fees, my community service hours were done, and I didn't have to report to probation anymore. So my dumb question (because there's always a catch right?) "What does this all mean?" PO: "Well, Mrs. Camacho, it means that we get to go to court, tell this to the judge and he gets to sign the paper saying that you're free".  So yeah... here we are, post court date (yesterday) and I'm FREE! No more fees, no more community service. No. More. Court. Sorry, Georgia Court System, but I don't love you.