Today I am Thankful

Despite the highs and lows on the path of my life, today I am especially thankful for my family and friends. I know that I am truly fortunate and I also want to thank the readers of my blog. As I sit around the table today enjoying time with my family, my heart goes out to those still serving time at my former residence.

There are over 400 inmates at the USDB who are enjoying a double portion of meat today. Regardless of their confining offense, it is difficult to go through the holidays in the DB. For the readers who supports military inmates, thank you and know that the smallest note or card means the world to the guy waiting for mail to be passed out.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Still plugging along

It continues to amaze me that time can pass by so quickly on the outside. At the USDB, time would drag on and I remember not hearing back from family and friends for months at a time. Sometimes it would be very frustrating to the person with unlimited time to sit and think.

As I look at the blog, I realize that I have not posted for coming up on two months. I the past two months I have worked quite a bit of overtime, traveled a little with the state to see family and friends, and grown comfortable with a routine of living outside the prison. I have been out for over three months and it seems like I was at the USDB both recently and an eternity ago.

I will be traveling to see my son at the beginning of next month and cannot wait. It has been far too long.

Food is good, I mean really extremely good.

I think I have shared with you over the years that the inmates at the USDB are provided with ample food to eat. This point can be proven by looking at the large number of obese inmates at my previous place of residence. On my To-Do List, I had many food based activities that I wanted to accomplish.

I have to tell you that the number one thing that overwhelmed me about eating since my release is just how delicious and flavorful food can taste. There have been times that just eating regular meals at someones home when I have almost teared up with joy over eating good tasting food. It may sound silly, but years of unlimited quantities of bland to decent food have heightened my sense of taste.

One of the hardest things initially was knowing what I want to eat. So many choices.

It’s 11:05, what are you doing?

I was driving down the road today and looked at the clock and it happened to be 11:05 in the morning. This is the time that the USDB conducts their scheduled count of all inmates. So many  people that I have shared the past years with are stuck in their respective cells possibly being told to stand up and touch their badge or harassed in some other way.

I chuckle and count myself lucky to be enjoying the scenery passing by my car window.

Creeping up on 60 days of freedom.

The past two months have been a whirl wind. One forgets how fast paced the world moves  on the outside. I have started working a decent job and it has been keeping me fairly busy. I am definitely underemployed/overqualified for this position, but I have not been able thus far to find an organization that will look past my felonious record and realize the incredible value that hiring me could present. I continue to search.

I have spoken to my son via phone and FaceTime and will probably have to wait another month or two before I can see him. He is doing well and it is great to be able to talk or even to just text him at will. I went back home and visited my father and sister. They are much the same as I remember leaving them, with the obvious absence of my mother. Then there is the daunting task of reconnecting with family and friends. I have quite a few and I have had to space the catching up out over a long period of time. It is very draining having the same conversations over and over again.

So many funny little quirks to the readjustment process. I will her those with you as time in future posts.

The grass really is greener…

Hello, this is my first post that did not go through USDB mailroom screening, snail mail and my good friend TSCI. After some reacquainting, I have regained my computer literacy and gained access to this site. I want thank our loyal followers for reading my posts and listening to my rants, venting and other posts. I hope that this blog has (and continues to be) entertaining and maybe even educational.

I apologize for the lack of posts recently, but the past few months have been a roller coaster ride, particularly the last three weeks. I am doing well and trying to readjust to the speed of the world outside the walls of the USDB. It is hard to even explain how surreal this experience has been. For now, I will tell you that I am doing well and enjoying reconnecting with family and friends. I promise to keep the content coming in the near future.

Thanks again for all your support during the past 39 months!