It Starts

As the door opened for the afternoon unlock I went out into the yard wearing shorts and a short-sleeved tee shirt for the first time in awhile. Yesterday the sun was shining so brilliantly it felt warmer than the 61 degree temperature. This is a far cry from a week ago where the morning temperature hit 22 degrees. The sun and warmth felt great. I walked toward the basketball court where we hold the PFT Plus class with a dorm mate who is also an instructor. As we reached the court my dorm mate noticed a new list was posted on the wall some 50 feet away from the basketball court. We both thought this could be the list for the upcoming PFT class. We were both interested in seeing it because both of us were expecting to be on the list. We made our way to where it was posted. It was indeed the list for the upcoming PFT class and yes, we were both on it. Yay!! This officially means the process starts toward fire camp. There are a total of 4 (including me) Instructors inside the class including the Lead Instructor. There are only 8 Instructors in total and the Coach is losing half of it to the class. This is somewhat good news for me because now the Coach is at a disadvantage in losing so many Instructors and I may be able to return as an Instructor once the class is completed. I am very happy to officially be in the class because it has taken over 3 months to get to this point.

It is interesting because my Bunkie who arrived on the bus with me from the reception center on the same day has finished all of his training as of yesterday. Now he is waiting to be transferred to fire camp. My Bunkie didn’t have any issues with medical or paperwork and his entry into the training classes was seemless. Sure it would have been nice to go this route but I have made these 3 months work to my advantage and the time has truly gone by fast. I am just hoping that now that my process has officially started there aren’t any unforeseen delays on the horizon. There shouldn’t be but as I have learned over these past 6 months I must expect the unexpected. The first order of business is to pass the PFT class and even though I shouldn’t have any problems with the test since I have been doing this for the last 3 months, I will take nothing for granted. If there aren’t any delays test day will be Monday, February 5th a few days shy of my son’s and daughter’s birthdays which are always special days. Everything is moving forward and should really start accelerating at this point.

The buzz of the list was circulating the yard as we started the PFT Plus class. Being the “OG” (old guy) of the Instructors, I took charge of the afternoon class and much to my surprise my “friend” was doing the class yesterday. He needs to get in shape because now that all of his holds are cleared he should be in the PFT class next month. He did have a difficult time with the class but I told him to keep coming back because it will get easier and he will get in shape. The class was complete; I made the trek to the pill call line for the protein drinks. The wait yesterday was 20 minutes and I continue to be amazed as to how many inmates are on prescription medication. This medication has got to cost the State of California a great deal of money and from my perspective the system (prison) is flawed with so many inmates on psyche medications costing the taxpayers billions of dollars. I certainly hope with focus on the overcrowding of the prisons in the State of California someone is looking at a reform of the entire system from the judicial branch to the prison system. If not with the population of California there is no way to build enough prisons to house all the inmates.

I received the protein drinks and once again was finished with working out for the day. My timing wasn’t so good because I had to wait 45 minutes for the next unlock. There are some C/O’s who unlock the doors of the dorms earlier and often, while there are others who unlock the doors late and seldom. Yesterday was one of the late and seldom days but I did enjoy the beautiful weather as I stood outside. These minor moments can be somewhat frustrating but I have come to terms with them and accept it. Otherwise it is pointless to be concerned with this because this is the way it is. “Temporary” is my key word in all of this and know my life permanently belongs to my wife and children. When I do return life will be better than ever and needless to say I am looking forward to that day. Right now all the locks and unlocks will come each day as I move forward which are insignificant to the grand scheme of my life.

At mail call I received two letters and they were both postmarked from 2 weeks ago. It appears the mail situation has not been rectified and it takes awhile for the mail to reach me. Any letters I receive I enjoy tremendously and the 2 letters I received yesterday were excellent. I do write everyone back and the letters that I receive always challenge me when I write back which is very good. Also, writing these letters took up the better part of the evening. In fact I hadn’t finished until after 10:00 pm having started them around 7:00 pm. I did fall asleep soon after completing them and my mind must have been very active prior to falling asleep. I seemed to dream all night long. I cannot specifically remember the dreams but one had to so with the house I grew up in and involved my mother and grandmother. I am sure a psychologist would have a field day analyzing these dreams which is why I need to remember them better. I must have been tired because during all this dreaming I was in a deep sleep and slept until 5:45 am. I did get out of my bunk at this time and got ready for the day.

Today was the first day of the PFT class, which meant it was officially my first day as an instructor/student. I decided to use today as a semi-rest day with the advent of the PFT class I decided to take it easy this morning and really didn’t know what to do with myself. I saw my friend and walked a little with him. He had a telephone call scheduled this morning and told me if he didn’t get through I could have the rest of his time. I thought this would have been great because I could have called my wife this morning instead of calling her tonight. Tonight I could have attempted to retrieve the books my mother sent which would free me up for the weekend. Also, I was hoping my number would be called this morning so I could get to the “store”. Well, none of this happened because my friend did get through on his telephone call and they never got to my number at the “store”. This is all fine because I will call my wife tonight and my number should be called tomorrow so I can get to the “store”.

Since I didn’t know what to do with myself I decided to head into the dorm prior to lunch hour. I went directly to my bunk and wrote. As I was writing, the C/O came into the dorm and asked for all the participants in the PFT class to report outside. I was happy to get the class started because it meant I was one day closer to fire camp and one day closer to my family. I have been waiting for this class for awhile and I will enjoy each of the 9 days because I am required to do all of the power walking and runs. I won’t have any breaks and don’t have to share any duties. Yes, I guess I am being selfish but it is a one-time event for me and I will look forward to each mile.