Finally today we are scheduled to buy commissary after over 60 days. I planned on waking up with my alarm at 5:40am, but my bladder pushed me out of bed by 5:35, so it kind of worked out great. I put my shoes on, grabbed what I needed to freshen up in the restroom and was ready in a jiffy.
6am, the head orderly in the Glasshouse is cleaning the “flat” so I walk around over to the computers to send my good morning emails to my parents then head back to my room and use the little light available to read my daily devotionals. My choice for the day was from my Bible reading of the day from the “L3 Bible Reading Plan, Story Plan”.
“Saul is Rejected as King”
[1 Samuel 13:1-14]
In verses 13-14, it mentions how Samuel says makes it known to Saul, “You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command”
God tells us to be patient, and what I took from this reading is, we should keep the Lord’s command of being patient and waiting on the Lord and He will establish our kingdom, which in our case, I see it as our future. Being incarcerated, there are so many things I can probably do, thinking that if I do certain things it will speed up my process, or cut my time, etc. This past week, I lost a lot of property in the shakedown. I lost ALL my legal documents, medical records, personal documents with private information, psychology records, and a much more including clothes and hygiene items that I purchased with money sent to me by my family. I could complain, I can follow the administrative remedies and “write it up”; Or, I could leave it in God’s hands. I will let him handle the people who did any wrong against us, and He will put me where I need to be. I see this as a storm that just passed, and soon I will see the positive outcome from all of this.
The officer comes into the Glasshouse and gives us an update on what is happening on the compound. She says we are going back to full normal operation, no more lockdown, everything is going to be open, but we are still going to pick up our food trays and returning it to our units.
7:15am they call chow and I grab Mr. Rivero’s wheelchair and wait for him to sit so we can head over to the dining room. Today in my breakfast tray I got raisin-bran cereal, one apple and one slice of bread.
8:00am they call work call and I head over to the chapel to find Chaplain Hostler. I talk to him for some time and as soon as Chaplain Estrin arrived, I asked to be escorted back to the unit to wait for lunch.
I see Mr. Rivero walking with his mug over to the hot water machine, so knowing him, I open my locker and grab my small cup. “As soon as he gets his coffee, he is going to come back and pour me some”, I tell my roommate. Surely, he did just that. When he got to my room and saw me with the cup in hand he laughed. We waited around until lunch time, we have yet to go to commissary, many are saying they pushed it for tomorrow, apparently they started pressure washing the roofs on the units next to the commissary area, so we cannot be around the lift they are using.
A few minutes after 11am, they call for chow, and once again we are out and about to go pick up our lunch. We get back to the unit, and I drop off Mr. Rivero in his room with his tray and dinner bag and I head to my room. My lunch tray had shredded chicken, corn, small potatoes, and apple sauce, plus two tortilla shells. Wasn’t bad, the chicken was extremely dry and some of the potatoes were hard.
12pm they call a 10-minute move, and I look for Bon-Bon to see if he is ready to go to the rec yard, but we decided to go at one. As we head to the rec-yard at 1pm, we find out the outer portion of the rec will not be open, so we continue the walk around the lake and back into the unit to wait until 2pm.
2pm, no move called yet, we wait until the staff changes are done and then they call the move by 2:15. Once at the rec entrance, we notice the officer opening the gates to the outer portion. I head in, and go to the small shack where they keep the sports equipment and grab a few racquets for racquetball with Bon-Bon. I put in a good little cardio, lost one game to Bon-Bon, then won against “Chino” and the second game against Bon-Bon we could not finish, the move was called and we head back out towards the unit.
Back in the unit, I prepare what I need to clean one shower for today, and Bon-Bon asked if I could shave his head for him. We head to one of the showers, he soaps his head, and I use the razor to shave his head for him. That was the first haircut I have given someone, and he survived with minimal bleeding. Once done, I move over to the shower “next-door”, remove the shower curtain and begin rinsing the walls and scoping out any mold within the grout of the tiles. I cleaned the ceiling as best I could, scrubbed down the walls, and then the floor all using “Ajax powder with chlorine”. Next step is lay down the shower curtain and scrub each side of it, before rinsing it and hanging it back up.
I put everything back where we store our supplies, and grab my things to shower. I grab a small bucket, and take my dish soap with me to wash the clothes I am wearing and I get in the shower. Back in my room, I hang up the washed clothes so they dry, and grab my tablet with headphones to watch television, but first, I need to call dad.
I see from the distance my roommate finally woke up from his nap, and is taking my bowl over to the hot water machine. In the bowl is four slices of the turkey they gave us at lunch, for dinner. He covers the turkey with the hot water, seals the bowl and I follow him back to the room. I grab one slice of bread, spread mayonnaise, mustard and honey, then add some Italian seasoning and garlic powder, and I eat it like a turkey topped flatbread, minus the toasting, and I grab and open the bag of chips to accompany the food. I hurry and finish my last bite, so I could take the bowl to clean it before my roommate does. With him, we are always helping each other, and I know if I didn’t hurry to clean the bowl, he would have done it as well. It’s one of the most important things here, is having a good roommate, I am very grateful for Mr. Aquino.
Sitting watching television, I have my water bottle with me and my hunger continues to sneak up on me. Bon-Bon comes downstairs and sits down with an apple in hand. (“Light bulb!!!!”) I have an apple in my locker, so I get up during a commercial to go get it, wipe it down and enjoy it as I watch T.V.
After talking to mom and mima, I grab a pack of mackerel fish, rinse it out, and eat it straight from the pouch. Incredible munchies I have had today, but once I was done, I drank some water and went to brush my teeth and put my retainers on, try and force myself not to eat anymore tonight. “Hannity” is on now on Fox News, and I end my night here.
Thank you dear Lord for a good day. Thank you Lord for giving me the stamina I need to stay awake throughout the day, helping others and getting my things done. Soon after count I will be going to sleep, and ask Father God that you please watch over my family each and every day. I ask that you provide me a good night and if you have anything to do with it, please send me good dreams; dreams that will possibly give me hints of my near future, if not, then it’s okay. Thank you dear Lord for all you do, and in your name Jesus I pray, Amen.
Eduardo Luis Valdes
02499-506
February 10, 2025
21:07
