Dear Dee,
I really should have gotten an early jump on this
letter as it promises to be a fat one. I have a letter of yours to respond to
in addition to my usual Sunday ramblings. But here it is Sunday once again and
away I go.
I am awaiting the arrival of the TV Guide crossword
puzzles you ordered. It takes 12 to 16 weeks for them to process the order? I’m
reduced to culling through discarded newspapers looking for crosswords to do. I
have found that, once I’ve done one, my mind feels “tingly,” as though it has
gotten some exercise. For as much reading as I do (132 books since last Aug.
5), it is a passive activity, only marginally more active than watching TV.
It was interesting to hear you say that it was weird
for you to leave without me. For me, being locked up has become the norm. I
spend a certain amount of time each day waiting for someone to come and unlock
a door so I can go where I need to. When I am finally finished with all this,
it will seem strange to walk out the front door whenever I please. The act of
sitting down in a restaurant and ordering whatever I want will, I expect, be
more than a bit overwhelming in the earliest days of my long-dormant freedom. Still
no word from the Bureau of Prisons on my transfer. Having been born and raised
in California and with my daughter and granddaughter living there, I am hoping
to be able to live there after my release, but I am trying to find out about
their living restrictions and voting rights for sex offenders.
Thank you so much for renewing The Week and Mental Floss
magazines. I look forward to both.
AS for exercise, I’m really lacking there. I didn’t
do nearly as much as I should have when the weather was ideal. Now it is
hellishly hot and humid. The guys who do go out there come back soaking wet,
looking as if they were hit with a fire hose. There won’t be much relief from
it until around late September. Maybe I’ll get lucky and get my transfer to
Terminal Island after all, where I can walk the track year round.
Church: RK talked about Earth Day in his chalice
lighting. Well, that was the theme of Rev. Bob’s sermon of April 22 wherein he
underscored the value of sound environmental thinking contained in the seventh
principle: Respect for the interdependent web of existence of which we are all
a part. I shake my head in a continual state of disbelief that global warming
and climate change are still considered to be partisan issues rather than
accepted fact. How far we have strayed from the beliefs and philosophies of the
Native Americans who respected and revered their relationship with the earth.
Come
As You Are had an impact on me. I thought I was going to
dismiss it when I saw its title, “Honoring Your Father and Mother” given that
my father doubted his paternity of me and my mother was more involved with her
addiction than her children. But Fleck surprised me by admitting that he never
liked his father with whom he had a distant and troubled relationship. His
father died at the same age mine did—59. He was left with a lot of unfinished
business, as was I. He says he moved closer to honoring his father and holds
out for the possibility of an afterlife wherein he might get the chance to
finish the job.
Chicken
Soup for the Prisoner’s Soul extolled the benefits
of writing as a part of the rehabilitative process. I think we’re ahead of them
on that score.
Whew! I was right. This was a fat one. My hand is
sore, so it is time to call it a wrap. As always, I appreciate all that you do.
Love, Steve
No comments:
Post a Comment