The Last 28th And So Forth

I finished reading “Beach Road” yesterday afternoon, and I was completely taken by surprise. Before I started reading this book, I read the book cover to get an idea of the storyline. I also read the snippets of reviews enclosed inside the book. I was intrigued by the story as the main character had a few things in common with Harlan Coben’s protagonist Myron Bolitar. In the review, there were many mentions of a “major” twist. I kept this thought in the back of my mind as I read. The story was moving along rather nicely, and sometimes, I can see the twist coming, but in this novel, I did not see it coming at all. The story had apparently reached its conclusion, but as I turned the page, the twist had transpired. I was impressed, and it turned an okay book into one of Mr. Patterson’s better novels. It seems the more I read these types of books (suspenseful thrillers) the more the endings aren’t so happy. This book was published in 2006, and if memory serves me correctly, many of these recently published books don’t seem to have the nice, tidy, happy endings. I have read quite a few of Mr. Patterson’s novels, and they all seem to be entertaining. His novels go by so quickly and do make for easy reading. This was no exception, and yes, I did enjoy it very much.

The weekend had come and gone very quickly as it usually does. Now, I have only four more weekends remaining before my release. My dear friend informed me yesterday at the GA meeting/visit that she would be coming again next Sunday for another visit. These are the dear friends who came to visit me when I was in Jamestown. They visited me the weekend after Christmas so I wouldn’t be alone. They have become incredible friends, and I continue to be blessed with their presence. This means that of the four remaining weekends, only one of those I don’t have a scheduled visit. I don’t know when my good friend who attempted to come last week will again visit. Conceivably, all four those weekends I could be receiving visits. I have been blessed with so many visits, especially since I arrived here over 8 months ago. Each of these visits has been very special to me, and I am eternally grateful. This journey has been a blessing.

The rest of yesterday was the usual. My roommate and I listened to “69 Minutes” last night as it has become our Sunday evening ritual. Prior to this, I did call my family and spoke to my wife, daughter, and son. This was a very good telephone call, and everyone seemed to be doing very well. My daughter was so cute as she told me about how she does “crunches” during her cheerleading practice. These are “Ab” exercises, which are exactly what my daughter told me. She wanted to know to get rid of the pain in her Abs the day after she performs them. I found this to be so precious because my soon-to-be-10-year-old daughter sounded so much older. Her Abs were sore, and she wanted to know how to rectify this. I informed her the more often she does the crunches the less there will be pain. The pain is good because because she is doing the exercise properly, and as she progresses, the pain will subside. As I explained this, she seemed to grasp it very well. My daughter continues to grow up, and I can’t wait to see her along with her brother. I did speak with my son, albeit briefly, as the 15-minute time limit was running out. He was very excited that his New York Giants were playing in the Super Bowl next week. He even knew that the game will be played on February 3rd.

It won’t be long now before I do get to see them, and it will be nice to be part of their daily lives. My wife has essentially been a single parent for the past 1-1/2 years. I look forward to joining her so we can once again be a two-parent family. Everything has and continues to work out for the very best. The situation 19 months ago was anything but ideal. I believe it was Erma Bombeck who said, “When life throws you lemons, make lemonade.” The past 19 months has been more lemonade than lemons. I can visualize that first hug when I finally see my children. It would be great to think that I will see them shortly after my release date, but quite frankly, this decision is out of my hands. I was speaking with another inmate yesterday about traveling to see my family while I am on parole. This inmate informed me it is very easy to travel. This peaked my interest, and he went further to say that all you have to do is just go, and as long as you don’t get into trouble, everything will be fine. I understood this to mean that I should not ask my parole officer for permission to travel because I won’t get into trouble. Well, I certainly do not intend on getting into trouble, but as part of my recovery and really new life, everything I do is done through honesty. If I cannot leave California without permission, I will not leave California. I would much rather have the permission, and if I can’t garner the permission, I will remain in California until I receive permission. The only question I have is on the timing of traveling so soon after my release. I would imagine obtaining permission is a process, and my better alternative would be to receive permission to travel at the end of April for my daughter’s communion. By the way, my daughter did also inform me she received the “sacrament” of confession in her catechism class where she confesses all her sins. I was raised Catholic and was baptized along with making the first communion and confirmation. I thought confession didn’t come until confirmation, but apparently, confession is happening for my daughter. Whatever the case, I do plan on big hugs and kisses the first time I see them. I was very fortunate to be able to spend three days with my wife and children back in July. I was able to see my children once in the past 18-plus months which will move to probably once in the past 20 months if not more. Saying I miss them dearly is an understatement. I love them dearly and can’t wait until I tuck them into their beds on a daily basis. I am moving closer to this as each day passes.

The rainy morning came quickly, but unlike yesterday, I go up, dressed, woke up my roommate, and went outside to exercise. In spite of the dreary weather, we had a very good workout session. The rest of the day was rainy and dreary, but this didn’t matter to me. What matters is today’s date, January 28th. This means this is the last 28th day of whatever month that I will be incarcerated. Since I am now officially under one month to go, the days after today will be the days of my incarceration. For example, tomorrow being the 29th is the last 29th of my incarceration and so forth. The 28th day of next month I will have been a free person for almost 24 hours. I will have a new routine which will include walking/running outside when I want, not when it is designated. It will also mean I can eat what I want when I want. The best part is I will be able to hold my wife, which means the world to me.