Good Saturday morning today, and even though I mistyped the date on the subject for the email to my parents this morning, I know it’s Pearl Harbor remembrance day December 7, 2024 according to the calendar in my cubicle.
A slight stomach ache had me out of bed and rushing to the restroom before they even unlocked the doors. Now for sure I am ready to go. I am dressed, washed up, and with a cafecito in hand. I take a peak at the televisions and on the channel 7 morning news, I see it is 60 degrees outside, so I grab my jacket.
The officer gets on the PA and calls for Jewish Services, and that is my cue to head out. Following me are three guys who want to sit and watch movies in the small televisions. I set them up when we get to the chapel, thankfully Chaplain Hostler already had the main door open, sign showing CHAPEL OPEN, and had the lights on. Once the guys have their eyes glued to the TV. sets, I grab the cleaning supplies and head to the restroom and give it a good cleaning. The few Jews that showed up today grab what they need from their locker and prepare for their service. Unfortunately Atlantic and Biscayne units are locked down due to a few issues they had, and both their units combined have a total of 9 Jewish members, so they do not complete their quorum for a full service.
By 9:30 we are all out of the chapel and heading back to our units for count where I am able to begin reading my daily devotionals. My favorite one for today is from the “Our Daily Bread” booklet.
“God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.”
[1 Corinthians 10:13]
It is very clear for us all, God will never allow us to be in a situation we could not handle. He didn’t allow that I get to where I am, without putting me where I need to be to get to this point in my life, providing me that opportunity to see what He has done for me, and follow Him going forward. Thank you Father God.
Once count clears I get my shoes on, grab my tablet, headphones and water bottle to wait for the first move. I plan to take the first move over to the chapel, and drop off my things, for the afternoon so that way I could head directly there from lunch. As soon as the move is called I am able to do what I needed, and am back in the unit ready for the call to “chow”. Today the menu shows “Chicken fajitas with Cilantro Rice”, and it is highlighted meaning its a new menu item for the 2025 fiscal year, so let’s see if it’s worth the hype.
I am the first one out the doors on the call for lunch, and am pacing quickly past medical and over to the roundabout. I meet up with one of the guys from Coral unit who was heading back to his unit from eating.
“Mr. Ever, que tal, como estaba esa comida?, I ask him as I shake hand.
“Estaba bueno, no como otros dias.”, he responds.
On our tray we were served, white rice, red beans, chicken chunks mixed with onions and peppers, two flour tortillas, lettuce, and a tomato with jalapeno sauce. I approve of this meal, it had a good taste, but the flour tortillas broke apart when I rolled it up with the food inside. Once finished I took my tray to the dish-room window and head out of the dining room over to the chapel. From afar I see one guy already standing outside the chapel waiting for me to arrive so he could continue watching the DVD he was watching earlier. After him, three others arrived to watch DVD’s as well, so I quickly set them up, fill out the DVD watching log, and head to the main chapel area to practice a song for Sunday service with the Spanish band. I call it a band, but it’s actually one guy who just learned how to play guitar, a second guy who is teaching us from his music experience, and myself with the microphone, which is still a learning experience for me.
By 2pm we are putting everything away, and heading out of the chapel back to our units, where I grabbed a small cup of trail mix to snack on, and laid down to try and take a nap until count. Even with a headphone in my ear listening to soft music to try and drown out the noise in the Glasshouse, it was impossible to fall asleep, so up and out of bed I go. I snack on a palm full of trail mix, change my shirt to a long sleeve, put my rec-shoes on, grab my radio, I.D. and water bottle, and head out on the first move to recreation.
It’s chilly outside, but nice. I could count about 15 guys in recreation with me. I notice the full track is closed off, so I head to the short portion and put on a good pace as I walk around it, listening to “99.9 Kiss Country” on the radio. As I come around the last turn, a few guys at the sand volleyball call me over to play. Shoes and socks are off, music in my ear, it’s game on. Two Colombians and a Brazilian versus two Mexicans and myself (Cuban-American). As we play, and we pump each other up, its cool to hear the different accents from each of us, but everyone gets along great and in the end, we are just having good fun, passing the time, and I am putting in a little exercise.
6pm, move is called, we played the full hour, time to go shower. I can feel the sand in my hair, on my neck and see it all over my clothes. As soon as I return to the unit, I call dad, but no response. Going to shower, I grab my things, and get into the shower with all my clothes on so I can rinse them down and clean them from the sand and sweat. I ring out the water from the clothes as best as I can, and back in my room, I hang them up in hopes they will dry throughout the night. I have some cereal I saved from a few days ago that the breakfast was brought to us, so that will be my dinner with one milk carton I have saved in a container with ice. Back at the phone, I call dad, it’s loud in the background, he is out to dinner, so it was a quick hello; he is doing good, “love you, goodbye”, I tell him as I hang up.
Just spoke to mom and mima. They are doing good, mima wasn’t laying on the sofa like usual, which is a plus. Back to my room to grab a few crackers and to sit down and watch some television since I do not work until tomorrow afternoon and could sleep in. A buddy of mine Mr. Nieves caught me in my room, and I invited him to take a seat, said he wanted to vent about a few things. Seems like he was able to get out what seemed like a few frustrations, and I was able to just lend him an ear or two. We looked at the clock and realized we had been talking for nearly two hours. He thanked me for my time and for letting him vent, and now I could hopefully get to sit down and watch something before I fall asleep. Tomorrow we have a busy day with both Christian services, and later watching a movie in the chapel. The movie is “The Forge”, for those who may be interested in looking for it; it might be on a streaming service.
Father God, thank you. I love you and thank you for always being there for me. Thank you for a great day today, thank you for giving me the strength and ability to play volleyball on the sand for an hour with the guys, and thank you for an excellent week. Tomorrow we begin a new week dear Lord, and I ask that you make it perfect for us as you always do. In your name I pray always, Amen.
Eduardo Luis Valdes
02499-506
December 7, 2024
22:19
