This morning I woke at 2:30, and I lay on my rack thinking for 30-plus minutes before I hopped down. I had slept for more than eight hours and I was wide awake, but I was consumed with thoughts about Carole. Today is our anniversary. We married six years ago when I was at the prison in Fort Dix.
Most of the prisoners in the open dorm here at Taft Camp were still sleeping at that hour. I mentally went through where I was held during each of our prior anniversaries.
I spent my first anniversary after a year of marriage in Florence, Colorado. In 2005, I was in transit and on my way to the camp at Lompoc. On our second anniversary, I was locked in the Federal Transit Center, Oklahoma. In 2006, I was confined at the Lompoc Prison Camp. And since 2007, I’ve spent the past two anniversaries at Taft Prison Camp. I wonder where I’ll be on my seventh anniversary, in June of 2010.
Because we’re allowed to see each other on visiting days, Carole and I have never been able to celebrate an anniversary together. Even if we were able to visit, I don’t think that would suffice for much of a celebration, as guards wouldn’t allow us to kiss any longer or hold each other any closer. Those celebrations will have to wait until my release. I don’t know for certain how much longer that will be.
Since I remember that I ran on the morning of our wedding, I decided to run this morning earlier, at the same time as I ran six years ago. First I wrote an article about perspectives on time. Then, at 6:00, I went outside to run 10 miles. This run extended my tally to 1,713 miles over the past 194 days. At 8:00 I attended a TOAD meeting. I spent the rest of the day reading the lengthy memoir on Alexander Dolgun.
Wednesday, 24 June 2009
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