Slipping Under 100 Days

Alright, I will admit it. I was lonely during the day yesterday as I worked alone. I had a good run over the past three months which seemed to end yesterday. The good run was working with my friends. I certainly got into cleaning the bathrooms, and I don’t know how the other guys who cleaned the bathrooms by themselves, before I started, cleaned everything so quickly. Anyhow, I got through my loneliness as the day progressed. Last night was yet another fire meal. Thanks to my roommate, my spaghetti was served with marinara sauce.

I spent most of the night composing letters as I received four magnificent letters. I received an exceptional envelope from my wife that contained a Thanksgiving Day card, a wonderful wedding anniversary note from my daughter, a beautiful drawing by my son, and photographs. The photographs covered the first day of school and went all the way to Halloween. My goodness, our children are beautiful and are growing up so fast. In the photographs were photos of my daughter and son in a pumpkin patch. My wife has taken a picture in a pumpkin patch ever since my daughter was born 9 years ago. It seems like just yesterday we had to hold our daughter (and son for that matter) because she was just a baby. Now she is a beautiful young woman. Where has the time gone?? The pictures were great at Halloween with “Goth” girl and “Jedi” boy. My daughter was the prettiest gothic character I have ever seen. I looked at the photographs three different times during the evening. I am very blessed to have such a wonderful family. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention how beautiful my wife looked in the photographs. She gets more beautiful with every passing day, and like a fine wine, she gets better with age!

I did go to sleep after viewing the photographs for the final time. As I was dressing in the morning, my roommate struck up a conversation. Please keep in mind this conversation was struck up at 4:45 a.m.! He had 15 more minutes before he had to get up for yet another fire meal. As soon as my roommate started talking, I wished him a Happy Birthday. Yes, today is his birthday. We chatted for a few minutes, and he playfully call me a “freak” for getting up so early to work out. I bade him adieu as I went off to the weight area. I realized I had more time this morning due to the delayed breakfast, so I took my time working out. As I worked out, I realized that I have now officially slipped under the 100-day mark before I am released. Today, I have 98 days remaining. I am not about to start counting down the days on a daily basis; however, I remember not too long ago informing my mother I had 180 days remaining, and half of that has already disappeared. When I started this journey, I originally had a sentence of 730 days (2 years). By coming to fire camp, my sentence was reduced to 140 days or so. Knowing I have less than 100 days remaining does give me great perspective. I know now 100 days goes by very quickly, and in no time, it will be February 27th. This journey is coming to an end, and a bright, beautiful journey will follow. Time does march on by very quickly, and the next 98 days will be over in a flash.

The workout was excellent, and I even got into a bit of a disagreement over the radio station. Since I am the first one out in the weight area, I get to select the radio station. Well, the radio station I selected is not the most popular with my fellow inmates. My fellow inmates listen to the hip hop/rap/rhythm and blues station. If you ask me, I swear the station only plays six songs, and they all sound the same – spoken like a true “old man!” I tuned into the “oldie” station which plays soft rock (when did Bruce Springsteen become soft rock??) from the 70’s, 80’s and today. I guess there weren’t any hits in the 90’s! I know a few of the guys out there in the morning, so we had a very playful disagreement. I didn’t care about the radio station, so I was having fun being the “old guy” (OG if you will). This was all settled when someone put in a Metallica CD which supersedes any radio station. I have gotten quite a musical education with these workouts. Most of the time, the CD’s are rap, and I would swear they were written with prison in mind. I found myself recognizing the prison slang in the rap lyrics. I can’t say that I enjoy the music (and I use that term very loosely!), but I do find it fascinating knowing what they are talking about. Even the Metallica CD wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I could even hear words being sung! This is all part of my prison education which continues each day.
The workout was over, and it was on to breakfast. After that, it was time for my second day going solo, and even with an earlier start that yesterday, I finished much later than normal. I do know I am being thorough, so now I will have to pick up my pace. This does make the mornings fly by, and before I know it, lunchtime has arrived. I spent the afternoon hiking the hill and enjoying the beautiful weather. I have developed a great routine which melts away each day, and here is to the melting away of the next 98 days.