Last Day of 2007, Yay!

I had all types of positive feelings as I walked back to camp from the wonderful GA meeting visit yesterday. I still had a sense of shock as I wasn’t expecting to be offered a job and really wasn’t sure it all happened. It did happen, and as I replay the scenes back, it was almost dreamlike. I remember long before I embarked on this part of my journey saying to myself that recovery is the right way and really the only way to go in order to have a positive life. As I continue with recovery, it became apparent I was going to prison for my misdeed. I knew prison would be a temporary experience, but recovery has to be permanent. I remain diligent in recovery, and these past seven months at camp have been wonderful because of these GA meetings/visits. I never envisioned having these meetings lead me to a job let alone being offered one at a meeting/visit. It has, and I am forever grateful. I needed to find someone who really knows me as a person and understands addiction. Amazingly, I have found two people who are willing to hire me because they know me as a person and understand addiction. Before I came to prison, I was offered a position with the Las Vegas Recovery Center. This position has remained somewhat open as I approach my release date. I was unable to take the position before I arrived in prison and I am unable to relocate to Las Vegas because I owe outstanding restitution. The second person is a dear friend from GA who does reside in California and is willing to take a chance on me. He has stated I am overqualified for the position, which I beg to differ. I am not overqualified for any position, and all I am looking forward to is an opportunity. This opportunity has presented itself, and I am extremely excited to start. As I mentioned, this will be a new beginning, and my mind is in such a great place for the first time in a long time.

I needed to share this good news with my wife so I decided to call her yesterday instead of on New Year’s Dat. My wife was not expecting my telephone call but quickly warmed up when I told her the good news. I’m not sure if it is the way these telephones operate, but I really don’t enjoy talking on them. There is a recording which pops up every few minutes stating the call may be recorded or monitored, and the connection is not the greatest. I was excited to tell my wife, but I didn’t receive the same excitement back. I may have misinterpreted this because of the odd connection, but I seemed to get cautious excitement. I also mentioned some things about the future in California for me and possibly for us as a family and didn’t receive much input from my wife. She is still very noncommittal about coming back out to California when the children finish school in June. Things are most certainly coming together for me, and now one of the missing pieces, my family, should start to come together soon. I can’t say this enough. I messed up and upset the lives of my wife and children. Everything seems to be working out very well for everyone as my family has been well taken care of while they have been in New Jersey. I can’t blame my wife one bit for her feelings of confusion. She is enjoying New Jersey with family and may prefer to remain in New Jersey. This does present a dilemma for me because I want to reunite with my family as soon as possible, and this may have to wait another 13 months. I would also like to rebuild my career and have my family with me. I need to stop obsessing on this issue and trust and believe everything will work out for the very best because it will.

I was able to speak with my daughter and son as well. They sounded great, and I know I have said this before but my daughter continue to mature. Also, my son is so full of energy. It is funny because both of them were commenting on the fact that they have to go back to school on Wednesday from their Christmas vacation while the schools in California don’t go back for another two weeks. I don’t know exactly where they got this information, and my daughter may have remembered when we all lived in California. I did remind my daughter that school starts much earlier in California (August) as opposed to New Jersey (September). She did say, “Oh, I forgot about that.” This was strange because I could remember my daughter counting down the days until she went back to school. I guess things change! It was great speaking with them, and I wished them a Happy New Year!

The rest of the day yesterday I spent writing letters about the good news of the day. Yet, it was an all-around great day, and in the evening, it was the usual with my roommate. Dinner was underwhelming so I broke out the bag of granola as a snack. I fell asleep listening to the all news radio station as they were talking about the upcoming primaries and caucuses in a few day. Politically, 2008 is shaping up to be a very interesting year. I don’t believe I will be able to vote in the presidential election, but I am still interested in who will be our next president. The Republican side appears to be a mess, and the Democratic side seems to be a two-person race. I thought it would be Hillary against Rudy, but these two may not even receive the nomination.

The early morning once again came quickly, and it was outside to the weight area. My roommate and I completed the four-day workout cycle yesterday and today could have been an off day; however, some of the equipment we don’t normally get to use was available so we went out this morning. We had a very good workout, and the air temperature was much warmer than it has been. The session ended, and it appears tomorrow will be out day off from the weight area. All of the crews were in camp today, and it was just like last week on Christmas Eve. I quickly cleaned the bathrooms because of everyone being in camp. I thought about doing some more exercising, but my legs needed some rest so I took it easy the rest of the day.

I soon realized today is the last day of 2007, and I will have to say yay! Yes, I spent all of 2007 incarcerated; however, it is all coming to an end very soon. Last year at this time, I was up in Jamestown and wasn’t in the best frame of mind. These past 365 days have gone very quickly thank God! It has gone quickly because time does move fast, and I am not in a great place both mentally and physically. Also, I am in an incredibly spiritual place knowing my higher power is extraordinary. I am looking very much ahead to a bright, beautifully 2008 as I say goodbye to 2007.