Managed to complete (survive!) my first week of the practicum. It was exciting. When working with people in groups, every day is different.

My practicum begins today. The practicum is designed so that students like myself can get real-world experience of what an addiction counselor's work entails before starting a career in it.

Started reading a book by Asha Bandele, Something Like Beautiful: A Single Mother's Story, on my spare time. She previously wrote The Prisoner's Wife, which received lots of good reviews. This book is raw. It's hard to put down. She writes from the gut and tells us what it's like to be a single mother and married to a man in prison. Regardless of how extraordinary the man is and how true the love is, it doesn't guard women from experiencing some rough tests down the road.

I can't fault her for any of her decisions. Although I don't know her, I support women like her. As a man I've always wanted to have a greater insight into what the women in my life, from family members to my girlfriend, experience as they support me so that I could honor them for it. After reading Asha's book I appreciate much, much more the strength, sensibility, and sacrifice of all those women in my life. And I salute the author.