1 Day Left

This is officially my last email that I will send from prison! I am leaving here tomorrow and I can’t even begin to describe how happy and excited I am.
Some parting thoughts.
Undoubtedly this experience will have a long lasting impression on my life; on my attitudes, my beliefs, the things I value, the things I could now care less about, on who I love and how I love them, on how I live and enjoy each moment of my life…..
Prison is, above all else, a crucible where men either get better or much, much worse. The said commentary is that many more men seem to get worse rather than getting better. Some of the ones who are becoming better men hide their progress from their “peers” because it can be a pretty serious scarlet letter in here. Common sense, decency and affection can be hard to find in this place…the tendency to act like, and be treated like, something much less than human is so common place in here that it eventually goes completely unnoticed.
On the flip side there are good men in here. Good inmates and good guards, they may be few and somewhat far between, but they are here and they…we…gravitate towards each other. I have made friends here that I will value for a very long time, some that I believe will last the rest of my life. Good men, just not perfect men…kind of like me
I feel good about how I served my time here. I believe that I had a positive impact on quite a few guys, inmates and guards alike, and on the prison and some of it’s programs as well. I am very pleased with the personal and spiritual growth that I have undertaken while I am here and for the work Wendy and I have done on our relationship to make it even better than it was.
Lastly, I am so very thankful for all of the wonderful support and friendship that Wendy and I both received during this time. This would have been exponentially harder without all of the wonderful friends and family that we are blessed with. I look forward to seeing you all soon.
With much anticipation,
Joe