My Personal Journey

Another month has rolled by, a really great month at that, which leaves 20 more months until Ron's supervised release is over. February was a month full of lots of celebrations, a little sadness and lots of work. The celebrations included my neice Alison's birthday and my birthday. My celebration began on February 20 with a trip to Pizzeria Mozza in Newport Beach and ended with another trip to Newport Beach at the end of the month to meet my mom for lunch. In between there were 2 lunches with friends, and a lovely afternoon and evening with David and Tracy. Of course there was shopping for my birthday present from Ron at Lululemon. What a perfect gift for me. The sadness I refer to was February 2, which would have been my parents 69th anniversary. I guess we always remember those dates. Ron is working hard. It's tax season, so he has some accounting work to do. He loves to be busy. His job at Costco still exists, although for the life of me I can't figure out who buys air conditioning in the dead of winter. Soon he will be able to go back to umpiring. He continues to recover from the November 27 removal of what turned out to be a non malignant mole. After two weeks, when the wound started to get bright red and tender, Ron went to a wound doctor. He has been seeing this man ever since, and the wound is almost closed. In mid February he had a piece of pig intestine implanted into the wound. It was put there to replace the skin that has not yet filled in, and speed healing. We're almost there. One thing that I never focused on was something Ron and I talked about yesterday. Everyday Ron gets up and realizes he is accountable to someone else. If he wants to go to LA he must ask, if he wants to go to Balboa or Newport Beach he must ask, and he needs to have a good reason for going. We take our freedom of choice for granted, but when you're on supervised release, not only the way you spend your money, but where and how you spend your time, is the government's business. In other words, you've always got someone looking over your shoulder. For someone who has spent their professional life helping others to manage their money, it's hard to have this restriction. Ron takes it all in stride, and he has a very respectful relationship with his PO. He trusts that she knows he is doing all he can, and she knows that he's doing his best. We can't ask for more than that. It's hard to imagine a time when we'll be living without supervision.(I say WE because the PO looks at what I'm doing, earning, spending, too). It's been such a long time since Ron has lived without the fear of lawyers, prosecutors or creditors trying to get a piece of him. He feels happy now that all the legal stuff is behind him, and knows that it's just a matter of months before he will be free of any restriction. I never hope for time to pass quickly, because life is too short as it is, but I can't help hoping that the next 20 months pass uneventfully.