Oh, the Days!

The rainbow of yesterday afternoon is firmly etched into my mind. This was a bright, vivid rainbow which was so close. I could have almost reached out and touched it. I don’t remember the scientific explanation for rainbows, but I can say it was, indeed, exquisite. As my roommate and me bounded up and down the hill, we took a few minutes gazing at the vivacious rainbow. A few other inmates who had seen it as well stated it was one of the most magnificent rainbows they had ever seen. I remember seeing several rainbows when I visited Hawaii but none this close and this big. Yes, nature does provide extraordinary sights.

I was tire last night and settled into bed much earlier than usual. I did have two cups of some lovely vanilla chai tea prior to falling asleep. I guess the caffeine content was nonexistent since the more I drank the more tired I became. It appears this tea had more of a calming effect than anything else. Once again, my roommate came through for dinner. Each holiday, a special dinner is prepared, and yesterday being Martin Luther King’s birthday, we were served barbecued chicken, hot link sausage, collard greens, black-eyed peas, macaroni and cheese, salad, ice cream, pecan pie, and soda. I only ate the black-eyed peas and salad, but I did have some pasta waiting for me back in my room thanks to my roommate. I had enough pasta for two meals, so I only ate half.

The evening was the usual with reading and talking. The early part of the week my roommate is able to get the local newspaper, so I spent most of the evening reading the paper. It appears the primaries/caucuses are heating u, and everything points to Tsunami Tuesday, February 5th, where there are something like 24 primaries that day. I am interested to see those results, but I have a sneaking suspicion there won’t be a clear-cut winner for either the Democrats or Republicans. It may come down to those states that didn’t move up their primaries.

Sleep came easy and so did dreaming. I know I had dreams, but I couldn’t remember any of them. This happens to me from time to time. It does appear as I get closer to my release date (5 weeks away!), the more dreams I have. My subconscious is back to working full throttle, but this is all positive and a far cry from before I started the odyssey. The dreams made the night’s sleep go quickly, and it was time to get up for the daily workout. My roommate and I are on a streak as today was the ninth day in a row working out for me, while my roommate has now worked out 16 straight days. We are due for a day off as my triceps and biceps are a bit tender from yesterday’s workout. Today, I didn’t have to use these body parts as we did legs. Once again the temperatures were warmer than recent days, and with this workout, we heated up very quickly. The workout was excellent, and it was on to officially start my work week.

Everything the rest of the day was the usual, and oh, these days are moving along nicely. As I mentioned, I now have only five weeks remaining, and the day count is 35 days and 1 wakeup.

It was funny over the past weekend as I mentioned how many days I have remaining to my mother and dear friends. I said 37 days and 1 wakeup. My mother replied that this is how she used to count down the days to the end of the school year. My mom is a retired school teacher, and the last of school usually ended at 10:00 a.m., so it wasn’t considered a full day. This is the same for me because officially I can leave at 8:00 a.m. on February 27th, so I don’t count that final day. My wife is planning on picking me up, and when she arrived for the two family visits, she was an hour late each time. I joked with her when I last saw her in December about being late on my release date. Quite frankly, I don’t want to spend an extra minute here, which is why I am hoping she arrives early.

I took all of the morning to clean the bathrooms as they need a full service from the three-day weekend. The camp installed a hand sanitizer about a month ago due to the potential staph problem. Now, these dispensers are empty, so I took it upon myself to ask if I could refill them. Nothing is as it seems in this situation. Yes, I am responsible to fill them, but I must wait until the first of next month. In a very different situation, I would question this logic but not here. I am finished making sense of an illogical situation. I just nodded and said, “Okay.” I think I have stopped being angered at situations such as these. I almost expect the completely unexpected. I don’t understand, but I am not in a position to question why. I’m not sure if there is anyone who questions why because these things happen often. This does make me long for a “normal” situation, but then again, what is “normal” to me may not be “normal” to anyone else!

The lunch hour came, and I decided to resume running and run I did for the entire lunch hour. The lunch hour flew by, and my afternoon was filled with writing. I wrote four more letters this afternoon, and I think I am current. Oh, the days are moving along very nicely, and now I am one day closer to being released. These days will add up, and that wonderful day will be here soon.