What Christmas Means to Me
I have often been told that you really don't appreciate the joys of the holidays until you see them through the eyes of a child. Seeing our kids this holiday season react with great excitement to the visiting of grandparents, spending quality time with family and friends, and just looking fondly at the Christmas tree with its bright lights and shiny ornaments has been a real treat for Carrie and I this year. It definitely has put both of us in the Christmas spirit and enlivened our perspective of what this special time truly means.
I also feel a similarly grounded and grateful about the work I do each day. My invaluable colleagues throughout the company and at so many facilities have certainly made me feel deeply connected where it really matters – as people just trying to do the best we can with each new day presented to us. We’re more than CCA employees. In fact, we are greater than our job titles and educational and professional accomplishments. We are fathers and mothers, grandmothers and grandfathers, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, foster parents and caretakers, volunteers and local leaders, good neighbors and kind people.
During my many visits to facilities this year, I have had the great honor to see many pictures of your loved ones. All of you were willing to share something significant about them. Be it their recent graduation from college, an accomplishment in an extracurricular activity, or their serving in the Armed Forces, your pride was always evident in your words and emotions. I felt so humbled and honored by your willingness to share. Those moments made me feel that we are much more than a company – we are a national community, truly a CCA Family.
It is with this that I think about my family during this holiday season – not just my wife and two children, but also our CCA Family. Your accomplishments this year are historic. We have successfully navigated 2009 in the face of the worst recession in many of our lifetimes. It wasn't easy, and we’ve had to make some very tough decisions along the way. But thanks to you, our company is strong and well-positioned for the brighter days of tomorrow.
As you prepare for gatherings with family and friends, let me wish you the very best this holiday season. This is a time for merriment and renewal. Most of all, this is a time to live in the moment, being mindful of our pasts, with the resolve and readiness to enter into a new year.
Warmest wishes to you all,
Damon