Different But Same

First off I would like to wish a very Happy Birthday to my mother-in-law who has graciously opened up her home and her heart to my wife and children. I hope she has a wonderful birthday and for the first time ever she has all her grandchildren in the same state on her birthday. Happy Birthday, I Love you!

I was looking forward to dinner in the dining hall for the rice and pasta salad. However; as does happen every now and again the menu changed to hot dogs, pasta salad, mixed vegetables and roasted potatoes. In spite of not having the rice I still went to dinner because in the past the pasta salad was very good. The pasta salad was made with vinaigrette dressing. I did eat all that I was given but I was lacking protein in this meal and knew I would be hungry later. I was indeed hungry later as I walked with my friend during the evening yard. My friend was very tired because he has recently begun an exercise program so he went back into his dormitory early. I did place a telephone call to my wife where we spoke for the brief 15 minute period. It appears due to the timing of my prospective transfer to fire camp I may not see my wife until July for the family visit. This will certainly be a family visit because she will be bringing our children with her. I have waited this long to see my wife so another 5 months won’t be so terrible. Of course I would love to see my wife sooner but this may not be the case. Whatever happens we will be fine because all of this is temporary and hopefully within a short year we will be all together forever. This is what matters the most. What also matters is even though my wife and I have not seen each other for many months and this situation has no doubt been difficult on her, she remains an amazing woman and my love for her grows stronger everyday. The telephone call ended so quickly and we said our “I love you’s” and “I miss you’s”.

My friend had gone back to his dormitory while I was on the telephone so I headed back to my dorm. However, I had to wait 45 minutes for the next unlock. While I was waiting I noticed three C/O’s stop four inmates who were walking and the C/O’s frisked them. Apparently, the C/O’s did not find anything good because they let the inmates go. I have been amazed at some of the things I have seen in my short stay here. It appears that if an inmate wants something which is prohibited they seem to find a way to get it in here. Some of these things are illegal not only in prison but in the real world as well. Here I am writing about having more than 10 novels in my locker when other inmates have illegal items in their lockers and on their person. The C/O’s did let them go but went over to one of their dorms and did a search on a locker. They must have found something because the C/O gave the inmate a stern warning as to cut out the sales or the entire dorm will be tossed.

Yes, I was still hungry and decided to make a bowl of oatmeal for a snack. Also, my friend lent me a CD (Nickleback) and I listened to it while I ate and continued listening to it prior to falling asleep. It was good to listen to a CD especially this one because it was very good. The only problem was that it was not nearly long enough and I wanted more songs. I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed the CD immensely. I did fall asleep sometime after 10:00 pm and slept well. I got out of my bunk at the usual time of 5:30 am to start the day. The unlock did come for early breakfast and after I got outside the air felt very cold and damp. The damp left a lingering cold feeling as the sun did not come out until the afternoon. The breakfast was my favorite of pancakes and oatmeal. There weren’t any fights this morning in the dining hall which is always good. We did get an early start on the PFT class. This morning I was able to do all the miles in the power walk and run.