I had a sad evening last night. After spending some time with Bo, I went back to Fort Worth Hall. I rode the elevator to the third floor, got off, walked left to the end of the hall, turned right and walked the 20 paces towards my door, when all of a sudden it hit me; I am the only ward of Cell Block C left. All the others have been paroled. I walked down the cell block noticing, there were no more tags reading: George Butler, Darrell Winters, Thomas Winborn, or Nathan Lawrence. Instead there are new names, that I don't know, and that don't know me. These guys don't know my struggles, and I don't know theirs. They don't know how to make me mad enough to tackle them in the snow. They don't know how to get me to leave the dorm at 1:00 am. They don't know that my eyes almost disappear when I laugh really hard, and they don't know how to get me to act like an idiot. I miss the guys that do know those things. This is going to be a weird semester without my friends being around.
2 comments:
Some of us are not far away, you just need call us. Better yet answer you phone!!!!!
Nathan
Hey man, thanks for the kind words. I miss those times too. Often times I find myself so busy now that I'm surrounded by ministry... by members... by things to do... by problems... by hopes and dreams... by deadlines... by more responsibilities. And I wonder where all my friends went. It's a strange thing to move past that very unique experience of a few years we had on cell-block C (mostly before the takeover). I enjoy looking back on those times. I'd say to enjoy this semester. And go next door and knock and figure out who is on the hall. I know I know... you'll have to stay up past your 6pm bedtime-- but you know what? It's worth it. Don't let those guys walk around thinking you are a cellar-dweller... or making up nicknames for you like "shim" or "gatoradeboy". You should show them what it means to fill the elevator with plants and furniture at 3am; show them how to rig the 3rd floor emergency door so the alarm will go off when someone opens varnum and cody's old door; introduce them to the prayer chair; show them that chris mckinney knows how to make a turban out of a seemingly normal comforter; show them how to stack cups and be a party-fowl; tackle one of them in the snow...err grass and surprise him; show them what happens when someone tries to speak clap to you; show them what happens when you toss a past-it's-expiration-date gallon of milk out the 3rd story down to the dumptsers; tell them where the one good shower is on the 3rd floor; show them your dance (on 2nd though, don't show them that); teach them how to play little-arm-man-tackle-football. Tell them that this is how we used to do it. THIS is how we survived the early days on the cell block. Don't let a 2nd generation of prisoners slip through the cracks. ---------------------- Here's to Phil, 2330 (glass raised in the air). Cheers,
Love ya man,
-geo
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