Good morning, I am up early to get ready and take Mr. Rivero to commissary. We are dressed and ready to go when the 7am move was called at 7:15, and we leave the unit over to the commissary area by the dining room. We sit and wait a while, thankfully with daylight savings the sun is not up yet and the outside temperature is bearable.
The 8am move is called and we are still waiting.
Finally, Mr. Rivero is called, and he pushes himself off his wheelchair and a few steps forward to the window. I grab his laundry bag and get ready for to put his items in the bag. He keeps a good eye on each item that is sold to him verifying what he gets is what he ordered and if anything is missing he can ask for it. He is done with his items, and I notice the officer is holding the next person’s commissary list and items; I see my name, I’m next. I put Mr. Rivero’s bag aside and begin bagging my things.
Nearly 8:30, we are on our way back to the unit where I pull up to Mr. Rivero’s room, put his bag of items on a chair in his room, fold his wheelchair and walk over to my room to put my things away. I prepare myself a small spam sandwich, followed by some water and a cafecito to really start my day.
I take the 9am move over to the chapel to say hello to Chaplain Hostler and find out if there is anything I could help him with, while I was there. By 10am Chaplain Estrin arrived, I say my hello’s and take the move back to the unit where I sit down to read my daily devotionals. Once again, from the “Jesus First for Men 365 Devotions to Start Your Day”, had a good word I would like to share regarding being “Strengthened”.
“We also pray that you (us) will be strengthened with all His glorious power so you (we) will have all the endurance and patience you (we) need. May you (we) be filled with joy, always thanking the Father. He has enabled you (us) to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light”.
[Colossians 1:11-12]
I specified the “us” and “we” to make it easier to understand. When we pray, we ask God, the Father, to strengthen us for everything we need, whether it be patience, joy, endurance, or whatever it may be. As long as “we live in the light” (live according to His word), we will have that patience, joy, endurance we need to live our life. I try my hardest to make sure the first thing I do in the morning is pray, even if it is something simple as just thanking God for a new day, and it gives me the strength to get up and “GO”.
Waiting for chow, I notice Mr. Rivero is not ready for lunch. Today the menu shows “chicken tacos”, so he is not going. I go check on Bon-Bon, and see if he will be going to lunch and that I will take him in the wheelchair if he’d like, since his foot is still out of commission.
Chow is called, and I am wheeling Bon-Bon over to the dining room. Since our unit won first place in cleanliness, we were awarded being called first to meals. The chicken was dry, the taco shells were “alright”, we had black beans, corn and tomatoes with jalapenos and onions.
To the unit we go, and I wait for the next move with a cafecito in hand. I sit with Mr. Garcia, Mr. Aquino and Mr. Marin and chat and once the move is called I walk over to the chapel and sit with the chaplain and ask him a few questions regarding my last pay which was cut in half, and he sends out a few emails to have it fixed. At the 1pm move I head over to the Education Leisure Library to pass the time and help out a bit.
2:15 a move is called and I head back to the unit, into my room and change out of my class-A uniform. Mr. Campos calls me over, and offers me a bowl of food that Mr. Rivero split with me since it was too much for him. I take the small bowl, place it in a larger bowl, and fill it with boiling water to heat it up. I go back to my room and wrap the bowl in a towel to maintain the heat. Almost 10 minutes later I remove the towel, remove the small bowl from the boiling water and place it on the table, open it up, pour some hot sauce on it and some plantain chips and enjoy. It was tremendous how good this bowl of food was. Mr. Campos did an excellent job putting this together.
I wash my bowls and head to my bed to wait for count. I doze off and wake up to someone yelling “count!”. I get out of bed and stand for the officers as they come around, and as soon as they clear it I head to the phone to call dad.
I plan on taking the first rec move to the yard to exercise, but Mr. Rivero wants to go to the dining room for pizza so I change plans. I get his wheelchair ready and put my exercise gloves away and wait for chow. The guy in front of us pushing someone else in a wheelchair get into the dining room before us, they greet the officer standing at the entrance, and then get to the food line and grab three trays. As Mr. Rivero and I grab our two trays and walk towards the tables, we see the same officer from the entrance walking with a purpose over to those two guys and removing one of the trays from them. It’s because of people like those two that cause problems for others here. Thank God we hurried to the dining room because it began to rain pretty hard and several guys got wet coming in.
The rain has stopped and we are back in the unit. I’m going to take the 6pm move over to the rec yard and walk for an hour or so. I change my shirt to a long sleeve, since the temperature outside is dropping and in my small mirror that is stuck to my locker I see that I have this large oval bruise looking mark next to my right nipple. I ask my roommate to see if he knows what it could be since he has some background in providing medical attention, and he says it could be a possible hematoma. Sounds horrible, it is probably nothing to worry about.
I head to recreation to walk for an hour, and return to the unit, and write to medical regarding my findings, since at this time there is no medical attention here unless it is an emergency for them. As soon as I get back into the unit, I grab my things to shower and wash up. I put my dirty laundry in my bags and place them in our Glasshouse laundry cart.
I get to the phone to call mom and say hello, then back over to my chair to watch television next to my roommate. “The Proposal” is on FX, always funny seeing this movie.
Tomorrow morning I have a callout with Psychology, probably this time it will be the last class for the set of psychology courses. Tonight will be an early night, hoping to sleep through the night peacefully.
Thank you Father God for this day. Thank you for guiding me and protecting me. Thank you for constantly building my faith. Just by having You in my heart, my days are that much better, and more peaceful, and provide me the joy I need to get through each day. Thank you for watching over my family, friends and loved ones, please continue to touching the hearts of those around me and those in control of the laws and justice system. Amen.
Eduardo Luis Valdes
02499-506
March 10, 2025
21:17
