Editor’s note: Nikki Pierce is a 2014 graduate and 2015 mentor of Truth Be Told’s Talk to Me program at Bryan Federal Prison Camp, where she was released on Nov. 1, 2016. The following is her Truth being told.

I traveled to Bryan, Texas, recently with my son to tour Blinn College where he might start the next chapter of his life. Blinn offers a two-year program. I also was in Bryan for a two-year “program” of sorts when I served out a sentence at Bryan Federal Prison Camp, just a couple miles from the college campus.

Driving to Bryan, I had moments of fluttery tummy. It was after dark by the time my son and I arrived, and we decided to take an impromptu drive past the prison.

This was how I saw it the first time too: in the dark. My husband and I, with our children, drove down to Bryan on Oct. 30, 2014. We spent a final night together at a local hotel that offered a free breakfast of Texas-shaped waffles. Funny the details that stick out in my mind.