Sixty Fifth Visit to Taft

During my Friday drive home from Taft I was hit with about 20 miles of a driving snowstorm. In the 15 months I have been visiting Taft, this was a first. The weather was beautiful when I left Taft and beautiful when I approached Valencia, but in between it was crazy. I'm not used to driving in the snow and I was driving my mom's car, so I took it very slow. Just a little added excitement to my Friday.

Our visit on Friday was great. Ron has been working hard to lose a few pounds, and I saw him in the yard before he entered the visiting room, and could clearly see a difference. He's down another 3 pounds, and it sure looks good. I hope he can keep going. What with umpiring, walking, and watching what he eats, I'm sure he will. He also had a haircut and a shave and really looked great. What a handsome guy!

With only 15 more visits to Taft I can see the end. I am very excited, as is Ron. He is in a pre release class right now which is more interesting than he thought it would be. It forces him to think about where he's been, why, and where he's going and how he will get there. Inmates are required to write an essay covering these, and many other topics, including long and short term goals, who will offer emotional support, and job opportunities. He is very detail oriented, and has so many ideas and I hope options for work when he gets home, each of which he has thought about in detail. I'm optimist about his success.

One new inmate showed up a few weeks ago. He had been incarcerated for a while, violated his probation, and returned to Taft for a short time. Ron was talking to him because he was in the San Diego halfway house that Ron will go to for a few days, and Ron was picking his brain. He felt so much better after he spoke with this man, because he had heard nightmares about some of the halfway houses. After all, most of the men are either addicts or former addicts or state parolees. They could be child molesters or violent offenders. Knowing he won't be there long was a great relief to Ron. The most interesting observation this man imparted to Ron was how fast the pace of life seemed to him when he was first released. Everything is s-l-o-w at Taft, there's really no reason to hurry. Much of their spare time is spent walking and talking, so what's the hurry? Even with the slow pace of life in San Diego, getting back home will be an adjustment, and Ron will feel the faster pace of life.

So here we are with just 15 weeks to go. I have a list a mile long of things I want to do before Ron gets home, and I will start today. My first job is to get our barbeque fixed, so that when Ron gets home I can cook him a great burger or steak, two of his favorite things. I can't wait until he's home and we can share our first barbequed steak together. It won't be long now.