Today, I am beyond grateful for everyone in my life that have been so supportive and understanding of my situation. I know my actions have negatively affected many people, I am heartfully sorry for that I caused any hurt or pain. Thus, I will focus on the positive and lifechanging experience that I have on a daily basis.
Since today is a holiday, we were able to sleep in until 10:00 am, which I admittedly slept until 9:30 am. My dorm wing was exceptionally quiet so that helped. By 10:30 am, I was in the chow hall gobbling down a very full Thanksgiving “dinner”. The plate consisted of nearly 1-1/2 lbs of turkey meat removed from a turkey (not processed meat), amazing whipped sweet potatoes, sweet corn succotash, a fluffy blueberry muffin (I’m not sure why), two slices of whole wheat bread, a dinner (tasted like a donut without the glaze), stuffing served in a square (baked like cornbread – very good), a cheesy macaroni (which I gave away since I don’t like cheese), cranberry sauce (from a can), and finally an incredible homestyle gravy. This meal was enough to feed me for at least 3 dinners, and sadly I only ate about half of it.
Once I found out that I would be attending “college” in Morgantown, I made visits with several people especially my family: one weekend in Cleveland and other in Southern Maryland. Thanksgiving dinner is, in fact, my all-time favorite meal. In Cleveland, my sister and brother-in-law hosted a thanksgiving meal that my mom completely made from scratched and served with a wonderful pumpkin pie, followed by several hours of JackBox on Nintendo Switch (the creativity of my Gen Z nephews -and their uncle, Ryan, who thinks he’s a Gen Z’er). Ryan flew in from Fort Lauderdale, so it was great to have the entire Gaughan family together, which truly was an early Thanksgiving. It was a perfect dinner and a perfect way to have a meal with my family while I’m absent for a some time. My sister also taught everyone how to play pickleball (and kick Ryan’s butt), which I think the timing is impeccable since there are two pickleball courts here.
The following weekend, I had dinner with the Fishers…well, not just dinner, but a crab feast! Teryn and the nieces hosted (and gave quite the dance performance), June prepped some incredible appetizers (especially her famous taco dip), Allen perfectly steamed the biggest Maryland blue crabs that I’ve seen, and Jimmy made two delicious apple pies, which sadly I only had room to try one of them. It was another perfect dinner finished with a game of Uno that Ryann proudly won (played with stacking rules and other interesting cards).
In the weeks and days leading up to checking into Morgantown, I was surrounded by love and support, not just family, but also friends: from dinners to game nights to just grabbing drinks at the bar. These events were a perfect send off for this brief journey in my life. I cannot express enough gratitude to everyone for making changes in their schedules and then hanging out and making so many wonderful accommodations. Simply, T H A N K Y O U!
Now, as I conclude this day, I am excited that I found an old upright, Yamaha piano in its own room adjacent to the basketball court. Also, some guy stopped by who heard me playing and taught me a whole different approach to reading music, which was an incredible 2 hour discussion. The weather was a perfect fall day here and the campus was alive with so many sporty activities. I could not think of a more perfect day to have if I were to spend it in prison, of course, if the chapel would have been open. The chapel today was the outdoors, nature, and the various animals all around the campus (dogs, cats, geese, ducks, deer, birds, even very plump turkeys, which must not have been pardoned since they were here)!