Release Day

[This was written on my release day.]

The good news is that I did get to sleep by 11p last night.

The bad news is I awoke at 2:40a to go to the bathroom and haven't been asleep since.

At this moment, I am waiting, and writing, in the prison law library, which is appropriate since I have spent so much time here.

I finally got out of bed at 5:30a after listening to Pensacola Q100 (100.7 FM) for the previous two hours while staring at the bottom of the bunk above me. At 4:30a two COs entered with flashlights performing the regular count at that time (which I normally sleep through).

I was showered and dressed in 20 minutes and left the remaining items (soap dish, brush, shampoo, sweat shorts, t-shirt) in my locker for certain designated "scavengers" to retrieve later.

I stripped my bed and stepped outside to a clear Florida morning and perfect sunrise. I carried my bed linens to the laundry, returning to the phone room at 6a to call my parent just to make sure they did not oversleep :)

Skipped breakfast. Not hungry.

I walked over to the bus staging area just before 6:30a to say a few final goodbyes. It was a little awkward because there were maybe a couple hundred guys milling around waiting for the work buses to arrive and only a handful I wanted to talk to. I didn't want to be too obvious because I wanted to be sensitive to the fact that, while I was happy to be leaving, many of these guys have many more years remaining on their sentence. I quickly found the friends I was looking for, wished them well, and within a few minutes, I simply walked quietly away.

And now here I sit with an hour to kill -- alone with my own thoughts. The only sound is that of the air conditioner.

The plan is to go to breakfast with my parents after they pick me up at 8a, then on to the airport by 10a. My flight leaves at 11:25a CST (please be on time USAir!) arriving at 2p EST.

Then, after my wife picks me up, I have a 4p haircut, 5:15p massage (with my wife) at Urbana, dinner at Bonefish Grill at 7p and then home. What happens after I get home is none of your business. :)

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I have just boarded the plane -- right on schedule fortunately.

I arrived at Release & Discharge at 7:30a. The officer escorted me to the processing area, where I changed into my departure clothing (that my wife sent in) in one of the 7' x 13' holding rooms. This is the same room where I was stripped searched and put on an orange jumpsuit when I arrived 3 months ago.

I applied my right thumb print to the release document -- I assume to confirm, if a question were to arise later, that they released the right person!

I was given the package of documents I had provided them yesterday; it appeared to be intact, unsearched. The only new items I brought with me this morning were reading glasses (that I brought to prision with me), a comb (that I bought at commissary), and a pad of paper and a blue pen (which is what I am writing my notes on).

I was escorted down the hall to the cashiers office where I was given the $158.30 balance in my commissary account in cash. This included the balance of my phone account as well as the $15 or so I earned working this month.

I then waited in the R&D "lobby" until 8a. My parents had actually arrived at the front gate at 7:30a but were denied entrance until 8a. Finally, a few minutes after 8, their car arrived, I stepped into the back seat and we were off. At this point, I actually wanted to snap a few pictures of some of the prison buildings to post on this blog so people could get a better sense of what the place was like but I couldn't get my dad to drive where I wanted to go. Oh, well.

They handed me a small backpack my wife had delivered the previous weekend containing my cell phone. Wow. A cell phone. Now, how does this think work again. Hmmm..... let's see.... hold down the Off button for a few seconds to turn On. Ahhh.... it is rebooting.

Though I had recorded an extended absence greeting, I still had some messages to listen to, including two from my wife this morning.

Breakfast at Village Inn. Western Omelette, grits, pancakes. I think I'm going to cry. Actually not, but I do feel a little weird. "Apparating" (Harry Potter fans know the word) out of The Rabbit Hole can do that to you.

After breakfast, we had an hour to kill so we drove to an old section of Pensacola near Seville Square where my dad grew up on Alcaniz Street. The house he grew up in over 60 years ago, including the wire rim basketball goal he attached to a tree trunk, is still there.

We stopped by the nursery -- plants, not children -- to say hi to my Aunt Glenda (everyone needs an Aunt Glenda) who works there part time.

Finally to the airport where, miraculously, the US Air ticket kiosk worked correctly the first time and there was no security line. The plane even boarded and departed on time. Have aiports/airlines really improved this much in 3 months or is this just my lucky day?

I'm a little numb. Don't really feel particularly chatty which, my friends will tell you, is not normal. Prison hangover I guess.

I'm starting to ramble. I figure if I keep writing, I won't start ogling the women sitting around me. So this is what real women look like. I almost forgot.

Hmm... she did it again. Either airplane aisles are getting narrower or the flight attendants are getting fatter because that's the 3rd time in 10 minutes my right arm (I have an aisle seat... my preference) has been brushed by her hips as she walks by. I'm losing my train of thought.

Before the I boarded the plane, I called my lawyer to discuss a couple matters. I told him that if he tells me it seems (to him) that I just entered prision, I was going to slap him when I get back. I feel like I was gone forever.

I will write about my arrival home and the weekend with my family tomorrow as well as begin posting some of the other, less time-relevant, articles I wrote while in prison. My wife was not able to finish some of the articles I wrote in May and I have some others I wrote in June that I brought back with me.

Also, I meet with my Probation Office tomorrow and will probably begin the 3 month electronic monitoring/home confinement portion of my sentence next Monday, which I also intend to blog about.