This week marks the fifteenth month of my incarceration. As I have noted previously, I believe first-time offenders learn their lesson within 3 to 4 months of incarceration, since prison is not a place for anyone not knowing what it really entails as a punishment. Using this logic, I have learned my lesson at least fourfold: do not break any federal laws and appreciate the freedoms that we have! Seems simple enough, but there are a lot of laws. While this prison journey has certainly been an experience that I would not wish upon anyone, it affords me the opportunity to reflect and further appreciate the freedoms that many lives have given so that we may live everyday without much worry. Although its not perfect to many degrees, we live in a beautiful country, and I am quite fortunate to have a prison experience in this country with so much support and love from family and friends.
On Wednesday evening, also Valentine's Day, I received ashes for the start of Lent. On Thursday at breakfast, one guy noticed that I had some remnants of smeared ashes on my forehead. I realized that I had put on my winter hat after receiving the ashes, and some remnants of the ashes were stuck to my hat. I had them spread all over my head, no longer resembling a cross but a cosmos. As the guy made his observation of me, another guy sat next to us who still had a full intact cross of ashes on his forehead. He overheard the conversation and added, "my son told me something about not washing them off and to let them naturally come off." (Aside: we have rules that we are supposed to shower at least once per day, which I think is one of the best rules of prison). Initially, I laughed since I thought he was just kidding, but it became apparent that he was quite serious. We both assured him that he could take a shower and wash off the ashes. Fast forward>>. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday he still had ashes on his forehead. What a great witness of his faith, but geez he ought to stink by now. If someone has heard of this so-called tradition of not washing until the ashes naturally come off, please let me know! I have not heard of this practice and would really like to give this guy some excuse for his unsanitary justification.
Another quick and busy week here. The Super Bowl was on Sunday, which helped pass the evening with some entertainment. The overtime certainly stretched out the game and the commercials were just alright. Although it is not a holiday, we do receive a special meal for the Super Bowl: buffalo chicken wings! They were absolutely delicious. We only have wings twice a year (New Year's Day and the Super Bowl). It was quite the gift to have this delicious meal to enjoy while watching the game. Last year, we had a large Mardi Gras dinner, but nothing remarkable this year.
We had a "pre" accreditation visit this week. An accreditation means that an independent organization has standards that detail how a prison should successfully operate. In March, there will be a team of professionals that will come to evaluate the prison based on these standards to either validate or verify that the prison adheres to these standards. The "pre" visit that we had this week was to ensure that we are ready for the larger team. It appears that all staff are taking this visit quite seriously, unlike past visits. My understanding is that a past visit yielded some unsatisfactory scores, which resulted in another scrutinizing visit. Typically in the world of accreditation, when a follow-up visit occurs that is due to some failure or limitation to not fully meeting benchmarks for the standards. I am sure the next few weeks will be a bit more hectic at work as we prepare for the full visiting team at the end of March.
I wish you all a wonderful, safe, and healthy week full of blessings, freedoms and little miracles. Thank you for your love, continued support, and for taking the time to check on me through this blog.