Thirty Third Visit to Taft

I felt funny all week, kind of excited like a little kid before a birthday party, and I couldn't figure out why. I had a great week of activities planned, boogie boarding, movie night with friends, beach walks and a happy hour party with a great group of women. But I think what excited me was that I would be spending the entire day with Ron on Friday.

Carole came back to LA from her first week of the new semester of her nursing program, and we decided to visit for entire day on Friday. Almost eight hours of conversation, vending machine food, jokes, introductions to new friends and lots of stories. Ron is a great story teller and one of my favorite parts of the day is the stories he tells me about the new people he's met and what he's been up to.

I walked in, got a big hug and a few kisses, and then we sat and talked. He told me that yesterday (Thursday) he felt he had turned the corner. What did he mean by this? He wanted to know if he seemed different to me. Af first he did not, but as the day went on, I changed my mind. Ron's friend Michael has described the prison experience like a big U. You start on your journey, going down one side of the U. It's rocky, you're scared, you don't know what the future holds for you. Somewhere near the bottom of the U things seem to come together. You are peaceful, comfortable with who you are and where you are, and you are planning for the future. Ron is now at the bottom of the U, where you can see the top of the U, you have plans for the future and work hard everyday to assure yourself that the future you want is attainable.

Ron couldn't put his finger on exactly what was different, but he did say that PEACE is what he felt. There was a softness in his face that wasn't there before. He had let the stress go. I also felt for the first time that visiting with Ron every week was within my reach, if I wanted it. I'm NOT committing to visiting every week but I know now that it's doable. I want to be there and I will be there for most of the remaining 38 or so weeks. I get excited around Tuesday knowing that Friday is just a few days off. Coming soon are holidays that will allow us to visit on two consecutive days, something I haven't done thus far. I can hardly wait.