Seventeenth Visit to Taft

I have just returned from a two week vacation with my mom. That means it has been three weeks since I've seen Ron. What a long time! I woke so early this morning in anticipation of our visit I arrived about 15 minutes before the 8am visiting hour. I was so excited to see him. While on vacation I arranged phone service, and got a call from Ron almost every night we were at sea. Just hearing his voice for a minute or two kept us connected and happy. I loved our cruise and the opportunity to travel with my mom, but honestly, if I hadn't been able to just hear Ron's voice I would have been very unhappy. As it was, he had a hard time having me away for three Fridays. He missed me terribly.

At Taft today I got the opportunity to talk with several of his friends. They all said the same thing. Thank goodness I was back, so they could stop hearing how much Ron missed me. They all knew all about our cruise, too. He shared everything about our trip with the men at Taft.

I learned something in the past few weeks. Hearing someone's voice, if only for a minute or two can alleviate any fears you might have about him. Just the tone of his voice can tell you if he's happy, sad, excited or lonely. I knew Ron was lonely even though he tried to mask it. And seeing someone, well that's the best. Just our five hour visit today made everything right.

There was a man Ron pointed out to me who has been incarcerated for five years (he's in his 70's). His girlfriend was there to visit today. He has had very few visits in all these years, and my heart went out to him. How lonely life must be for someone who doesn't have any visitors! Every week you see the same wives and families there. These are the inmates with great support systems, and for the most part, these are the happiest campers. Ron is one of the happy campers. He's had at least one visitor per week since he's been there, and I intend to keep it that way for the next 56 weeks.