Thankful in 2014

Joan Oswald is thankful for the lengthy sentence she got in Washington County Jail. "What are you thankful for," is a series that I've done for a couple of years at this holiday time of year asking people what they are thankful for. Benjamin Brink / The Oregonian

(Benjamin Brink)

"What are you thankful for?" It's a question I believe all of us can answer in various ways, based on our own life stories. In the last couple of years, I have done a series of short essays with photos for Thanksgiving that I call "Thankful." I go to individual Washington County folks you might not necessarily think would be thankful and simply ask them, "What are you thankful for?" I try to find people you've never heard of and bring out small pieces of their lives that will have an impact on others in the community during the holiday season. Hopefully, reading these short essays will inspire each of us to pause and reflect, "What am I thankful for?" -- Ben Brink

When was the last time you heard an inmate say, "I'm thankful the judge gave me a lengthy sentence. It's enough to scare me straight."

Joan Oswald, 24, from Hillsboro, wasn't always in trouble with the law. After having twin boys at age 16 and another son at age 17, Oswald became hooked on pain pills. From there, she went on to use meth, acquired a DUI, started hanging out with the wrong people, received a conviction without jail time, and then went straight to jail after a parole violation.

Oswald talks like someone who is amazed at the words coming out of her mouth. She said she's basically allergic to meth. She gets a terrible rash all over her body when she uses. She knows how stupid it was to be sentenced without jail time and then use again less than a week after conviction.

She is grateful for her husband, her boys, her mother. She knows what the consequences will be if she screws up again. Oswald figures meth would kill her, and her boys would lose someone they really need. And she knows the jail time has been harder on them than it is on her.

Even though Oswald misses her family, she's glad for the lengthy time in jail. She knows it will scare her straight. She will be most thankful to get out on Dec. 7, 2014, and plans to never go back.