Prison Journal: Day 8,146
November 28, 2009
With Thanksgiving behind us, we’ve moved directly into the Christmas holiday season. I know Christmas brings many people together for parties and celebrations, and it’s not easy to block the reminders of what I’m missing every year as December arrives and the holiday season commences with gusto.
Here at Taft Camp, two local radio stations spread the spirit by broadcasting Christmas songs 24 hours each day until after the new year. By next week, enthusiastic orderlies will decorate the housing units and the visiting room with wrapping paper and ornaments, making the holidays more difficult to ignore. I have flashes of memory of Christmas seasons spent at home, but that was so long ago that they are overwritten with memories of all the holidays I’ve passed in prison. I don’t think I’ve had any Christmas visits with my parents or sisters during my imprisonment, but Carole has spent four of the past eight Christmas days with me in the visiting room. We don’t expect to be together this Christmas day because she’ll be working.
Despite the constant reminders that holidays are upon us, prisoners sometimes find it easier to hibernate through the season. It’s painful to yearn for family, affection, and all the festivities that last through the end of the year. I’ve learned to look forward to the new calendar year that follows Christmas, and to focus on completing a milestone–the passing of another year–that brings me closer to release. This year is a fulcrum of sorts, because it’s my 23rd consecutive Christmas in prison—that means I’ve spent as many Christmas days in prison as I did in freedom, before my imprisonment.
To pass through this first weekend of the 2009 holiday season, I began the day outlining a project that I intend to write during the first half of 2010. I’m thinking of content I’ll add to my web site that will facilitate the career I want to build upon my release. Planning that work takes hours. I met with my friend Steve, who has extensive experience with technology, to describe my vision and discuss possibilities.
The early morning was damp and cold, but the weather doesn’t interfere with my commitment to fitness and I enjoyed my daily 10 mile run.
[consecutive running log: 3,123 miles in 350 days]
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