Here's a letter from Wayne - a perspective on a taste of freedom

I got my first taste of freedom today. Yesterday they announced a trip to Wal-Mart for 2500 points (*Monica's note: Prisoners get points for doing work around the camp - working in the kitchen, cleaning the dorms, raking leaves, etc.). I had some money on me from your last visit and had plenty of points to spare. So I signed up to go. Usually I wear my prison whites just so I don't have to wash clothes, but for the trip I put on my jeans and that Ole Miss shirt you got me. I know you hate Ole Miss. About twenty of us loaded on to that big white prison school bus and went to the local super center. They parked way back by the road and told us we had an hour. It was like I was really free just shopping at Wal-Mart. I bought hot chocolate, soap, and a few other things I did not really need. Some of the guys that couldn't go got me to pick up some things for them. It was just so weird to be in there. I was walking around and the people there weren't convicts and weren't guards. They were just regular people. When they looked at me they did not see an inmate. They just saw a man at Wal-Mart. It almost made me forget I was going back to the camp and going to be locked up again. Nobody was telling me what to do or where to go and the only thing missing was you.

********************

In the same letter I was happy for him and in the same breath it just broke my heart. I was happy he got to get away from the camp for a little while, but that he had to come back and go back into prisoner mode.

that really is amazing. amazing how what i take for granted can mean so much. i will never return to wal*mart with the same eyes again. i'm happy for wayne. and that's sweet what he said about you being the only thing missing :)

lee says when he comes home he isn't going to remember how to open an envelope...

emme

Wow, makes you think of all the things that we take for granted doen't it?

So happy for you guys... Love to hear good news like this!

Thanks Monica for sharing a few thoughts and views from Wayne! Wow, I bet it was different and I can't wait till he has a bunch more of these experiences...until he's home with YOU!

Thanks for sharing...Hey I LIVE in Wal-mart...:) Wayne made me realize how much I love it!!
Be sure to tell Wayne Merry Christmas from your PTO Family!

DEAR MONICA
SO HAPPY FOR YOUR HUSBAND WAYNE. I COULD FEEL IN EVERY WORD HE WROTE THAT HE WAS AS HAPPY AS A KID WITH HIS FIRST BIKE AT XMAS. I COULD JUST FEEL HIS HEART BEATING NINETY MILES AN HOUR. I COULD JUST FEEL THE HAPPINESS HE WAS FEELING AND YES HE FELT LIKE A REGULAR GUY FOR A SHORT WHILE, THAT WAS GOOD FOR HIM TO FEEL THAT WAY ABOUT HIMSELF, HE NEEDED THAT. I AM SO GLAD FOR HIM, HE MUST BE A GOOD GUY WITH A GOOD HEART IF HE WAS GOING TO PICK UP SOME THINGS FOR SOME OF THE INMATES THAT DID NOT GET TO TAKE THE TRIP, THAT WAS A GOOD DEED DONE AND WILL GO DOWN IN HIS BOOK. BUT I ALSO FEEL THE BIG LETDOWN IT MUST HAVE BEEN WHEN HE HAD TO GO BACK TO THE BUS, BUT HE WENT BACK BEING AN INMATE BUT I KNOW THIS TRIP REALLY HELPED HIM WITH A BIG UPLIFT THAT HE SOUNDED LIKE HE REALLY NEEDED. BUT YES HE ENJOYED THE TRIP TO WALMART AND ALL THE SHOPPING AND FEELING LIKE A REGULAR GUY, BUT ALL THE GOODIES HE BOUGHT WAS NOT WHAT WAS ON HIS MIND, WHAT WOULD HAVE MADE HIS TRIP COMPLETE WAS YOU WALKING WITH HIM HOLDING HIS ARM. BUT WHEN HE GETS OUT BE SURE YOU AND HIM GO TO WALMARTS AND HAVE A GREAT BIG FUN DAY SHOPPING TOGETHER AND THAT WILL MAKE HIS FIRST WALMART SHOPPING TRIP COMPLETE.
WISH YOU TWO THE BEST AND HAVE A MERRY XMAS AND MAY THE NEW YEAR BRING ALL THE HAPPINESS TO YOU BOTH EVEN THOU HE IS LOCKED UP. GOD BLESS YOU AND YOUR FAMILY. IRIST IRIS TAYLOR TEXAS

Wow, this really makes you think of how much we take little things for granted. I liked the part of how much he missed you. That was really sweet. I'll never look at wal-mart the same.
Sherry

Danielle, Thank you very much for sharing that letter. It was very enlightening. I understand about the bitter sweetness of it. Wayne god bless and hang in there buddy.

Now, Rene.....I love, love, love Waylie!! Great song, I almost got up and two stepped while reading it!!!!

Wow Monica, that's nice, thanks for sharing !!! I didn't even know this could happen, and when I started to read I was kinda afraid he would go handcuffed with a CO next to him !!
What is "Ole Miss" ????? Something to do with Mississippi ??
Anyway, he must have really enjoyed this taste of freedom, even if he missed your sweet presence !!! :)

Thanks guys - he dropped a hint that he got me a Christmas present on the phone. LOL That would be a first! :)

Phil - Ole Miss is a college here in Mississippi and he likes their football team. I'm a Mississippi State Bulldogs fan. Go Dawgs!!!

Gosh I should have known !!! :D I'm supposed to run for "the N.Y Yankees", Joey is a big fan (he was born in NYC), but I don't even remember if it's a football or base ball team !!! :D

DANIELLE THAT WAS A WONDERFUL LETTER.WISH THEY DID THAT EVERYWHERE

phil, geez, they're a baseball team! lol!

xo
em

I, too, wish that this was available to all prisoners in some manner. It's only because he's in work release he gets to go to Wal-Mart.

Phil as emme said they are baseball - BUT if you really want to impress him, tell him all about the Atlanta Braves!!! :haha: They are THE best baseball team!!

Monica, you live in Mississippi, Wayne is in Alabama, and Atlanta is in Georgia !!! Why are you for the Atlanta Braves ?? I can't impress him much, we European don't understand anything at baseball !!! :confused:

Phil - there are no major league baseball teams in Mississippi. Wayne is not in Alabama by choice! LOL

Watching the Braves is a family tradition - I got to see them play in the World Series in 1991 in Atlanta when I was a senior in high school and have been hooked every since.

Just keep educating Teddy about sports and other things in Europe. :) It's got to be more interesting then watching men hit little balls with a stick and running around in a circle! :)

Go Braves!!

phil, not every state has its own baseball team...so there are kind of regional favorites...for example, the people in new jersey and connecticut (did i spell that right?) might be yankees fans because the yankees are in new york...and new jersey and connecticut are near new york...

em

Gosh Monica, you're gonna make me have some problems with Teb !!! He still doesn't know that "Teddy" is coming to Europe !!! :D

Teb don't PANIC !!! It's just a "mistyping" !!! Teddy will go to Canada and learn hockey, and Joey will come to France and learn soccer !! :)

Monica, I'm gonna print out this "Braves" avatar, and sent it to JOEY, just to show off !!! If he's mad at me, I hope you will find for me a "Yankees" avatar !!! :D

That is such a great program! How wonderful for him to be able to go to Wal Mart. That was truly an uplifting story!!

that is so nice and I bet it really helped him regain some strenght that life is going to be good again. I am so happy for him..

Phil did I ever mention besides not being an innocent woman I am a dumb blonde as well! :haha:

Forgive me for my typo - I just got so excited about the Braves. I got to get a life!!!! ;)

danielle,

Phil may forgive you but I am not sure if I will yet...??? LOL I realize that Phil and I are soooo much alike that it is difficult to tell us apart... I am the better looking one though!

How did this move from a 'taste of freedom' to an educational seminar for Philippe on sports!?

LOL...we should start a new forum: "educating the frenchy!:

LOL, my dearest philippe, i love you!

xo,
em