Thirty Eighth Visit to Taft

I've been so busy lately, that the half way point of Ron's incarceration came and went without any mention from me. How could I forget to talk about the fact that more than 50% of his time at Taft is finished? As it stands right now, he has completed 275 days, and has 231 more to go. Looking at it another way, he's got 33 more weeks to go.

When Ron first started serving time at Taft, the days seemed endless. I remember counting the days until he had finished 10%. Ron says that time is flying by for him. He has work, umpiring, classes and lots of new friends to schmooze with. I, on the other hand, find the days go slowly but the weeks go quickly. I know that doesn't make sense, but here's what I mean. I sometimes find the days going slowly, but then I turn around and it's Thursday, ready to go back to LA for my Friday visit with Ron.

Today we spent time talking about stress, and how much we have in our individual lives. The tumultuous years before January, 2010, were filled with the most unbelievable stress for both of us. I am sure that Ron's diabetes was exacerbated by stress. Over the past few years, my hair got very thin, also a result of stress. (I think). Today while we were visiting Ron mentioned how much thicker my hair looked. I believe it's because of a reduction in stress.

In Ron's case, he says he has no stress right now, other than what he brings on himself. The causes of his stress are self inflicted. He will start to think about when he is released, what his probation officer will and will not let him do, and he gets stressed. He creates all sorts of scenarios for himself of things that will not likely happen. What will happen if he accidentally breaks probation? That thought causes him stress. His day to day life is stress free. As a result his overall health, and specifically his diabetes is much improved. He has no decisions to make, no bills to pay, no business conflicts to contend with.

I, on the other hand, am faced with the stresses of daily life. I don't find this too daunting, yet dealing with bills, overseas customer service representatives that are difficult to communicate with, and traffic sometimes gets me down. I also fantasize about the time Ron is back home and the problems we may encounter. This causes me stress.

Overall, this is a stress free period for both of us, as evidenced by Ron's good health and my thick hair. I hope, come June, my hair will stay thick and his health will stay good.