Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Bad news for a family member


I have a cousin that is my favorite in the whole wide world; he was released from prison on parole.  For three weeks it seemed like he was doing well, at least that's what he was telling me.  He would call me every day or every other day to check in and let me know he was okay.  I had spoken to him on Thursday and told him I would talk to him on Friday. Friday came and I called him, no answer.  I thought “okay he may just be busy”.  Saturday no answer, Sunday the same, then on Monday his phone started going to voice mail. So finally today I called a parole office, they informed me that he was arrested Monday.  I don’t know why, wondering when I am going to learn what it was for.  But it hurts, and I feel like I should have done more to keep him out, but he did have it rough.  He was homeless, moneyless, family-less, and struggling.  In a way it feels like a relief because he isn’t on the streets, but at the same time I just wish he wouldn’t have gone back.  When I was told I got sad, my greatest fear came true.   I was hoping he would “tough” it out and next year when he got off of parole he would be able to come out here to Missouri with me.  In a way I feel disappointed. Disappointed in the cards he was delt, and how it put him back into prison.  Disappointed that his choices, well I haven’t really found out what the reason for going back was, put him back in there.  Disappointed, that I couldn’t help my cousin with more than just emotional support from far away.

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Time off with Chango

Monday (6/10) through Wednesday (6/12) was Chango's home time.  It was nice to have him home.  
On Monday, we went to see a Kansas City Royals game. It was a boring game, I am guessing because none of the teams were teams we liked.  The Royals played Detroit Tigers and the final score was 7-2 Royals.
 On Tuesday we took a drive to Hannibal, Mo.  Nothing in the town seemed to peek our interest so we were debating to take a drive to Nauvoo, IL or Saint Louis, MO: I ended up picking Saint Louis.  There was plenty of things to do in St. Louis and we picked going to the Budweiser Plant.  Oh man that was such a good choice!!! The first thing we saw there was the Clydesdale Horses and was told a little bit about them.  Did you know that the horses must look a certain way to become part of the wagon team???  After that we went into different parts of the plant, learning different things about how the beer is made and what ingrediants are added, how they are bottled and packaged.  At the end we were able to have free samples of 2 beers or soda.  I had to choose the soda because I was the designated driver and also I lost my drivers license during the Royals game. =(  After the tour of Budweiser we went to the Saint Louis Arch.  Talk about tall!!!!! Then we came home.
 On Wednesday we just stayed home and did some yard work and had a BBQ for just us.  It was nice having James home and especially being able to go and tour the Budweiser plant.  Maybe we might go back to Saint Louis to do other things like the science museum and the zoo.  Who knows we will have to wait and see.