12/30/13
I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and a happy new
year. Mine was blessed but also very sad. My daughter and son-in-law came to
visit from California, which made it a very special. My son and daughter-in-law
came a few days after which was also very special and it made me very happy to
have two visits in one week. I have been very lucky to have regular visitors.
My children, my parents, my sister, brother-in-law, and many other family
members and friends have done their best.
Nevertheless, being so far away from home it is very
expensive and time-consuming for visits for everyone. I know that everyone
wishes that they could come more often and so do I. It is always so sad when
visitors leave. It is hard to be up here so far away from everyone all alone.
I have spoken to many women incarcerated with me since I
have been here at Albion on who have been charged with similar offenses or even
far worse offenses and they are routinely released far quicker than I will be.
Many women who are repeat felons who committed crimes worse than mine, have
received lesser sentences. This simply does not make any sense to me.
It is disheartening to think that my judge imposed a five-year
sentence with 2 ½ years of post-release supervision upon me, a first-time
offender, who was found to be justified a jury trial for her actions, simply so
the judge could make a point to the public. The public is not serving my
sentence.
I am fully aware though that things could be far worse and I
continue to pray for the countless others who are in abusive domestic violence
relationships. I pray that they have the courage and strength to know that they
deserve better and to seek help before it is too late.
I hope that all your dreams come true in 2014 and I would
like to wish a happy new year to everyone who has supported me for all of these
years.
Barbara
Hopefully you will be out of there soon. I'm thankful that you are in a unit that is more therapeutic than punitive, but home with your fam and friends is where you deserve to be. My daughter had to learn this poem in middle school and ever since I helped her practice it I can see it's power - to rest in the beauty within ourselves even when the external is not the best situation. I hope you are out so fast it surprises even you.
ReplyDeleteMe.
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Daffodils
by William Wordsworth
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.