Last Drive to Taft

I am writing this blog in advance of my last drive to Taft, which will take place early on July 27. On that day, Ron will be awakened at about 3am to get him ready for release. I will pick him up just where I dropped him off 18 1/2 months ago, at the main prison, not the camp. At 3am he will get all his belongings together and then get ready to do whatever paperwork is involved. I can't imagine how all this could take 4 hours, but that's what they do. He won't have much to bring with him, as he plans to give most everything away. That's what the men do. He's got 2 pair of shoes, so he will give the better pair to someone who needs them. It's the same for his clothes. The prison gives him old clothes (jeans and a t-shirt) to walk out in. When he arrived at Taft, his clothes were taken and saved for someone else when they left. I must say, Taft is in to recycling!!! He will give away his little radio, and whatever else he may have acquired while there. He will have just a small box of letters, books, cards, and mementos. At 7am I will arrive at the prison and pick him up. I will have HIS clothes waiting for him in the car. His favorite jeans, a clean t-shirt and a sweatshirt. I will bring 2 pairs of jeans for him as he really doesn't know what size he will wear. Then we'll be off to Denny's about 30 minutes away, for a nice breakfast.

By the time you read this, if you get it in the morning, we'll be dining at Denny's. I never thought I'd say that I'd be looking forward to breakfast at Denny's but you have no idea how much I am. After breakfast we will drive to Carlsbad, pick up Ron's overnight bag for the halfway house, have a quick lunch (a burger or ribs, his choice), then it's on to the halfway house. He expects to be there no more than 2 nights, but as I've learned over the past years, everything is subject to change, so we'll take it as we go.

I wonder how our ride home will be. Will he want to call everyone he knows to say hello? Will he just want to relax and spend the time with me? I don't know, and I don't think he knows. All I do know is that with just a few days to go, he is so excited to come home he can hardly stand it. I can't even imagine how hard the waiting is. When you're there for 18 months you don't think about coming home everyday, but when you're down to the last little bit, that's all you think about.

So here we are, starting the next phase of our lives, and I can hardly wait to see what's in store for us. It's all good from now on.