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July 18, 2003

It has been one year this week

Steve was transferred to the prison in Shelton a year ago this week. It has seemed like two lifetimes have passed by in that time. For those that don't have the opportunity to speak with him, he is doing very well. There is no way to minimize the fact that life in prison sucks but he has done very well so far. He has a job working in the warehouse and has taken night classes in computer drafting. He is a prolific letter writer, we recieve at least two letters a week! I, on the otherhand, am guilty of sending him two or three letters a month (of course, they are 8-12 pages). The prison has a program where he is able to read a kid's book onto a tape and essentially make a taped letter along with it. The boys really love this. We have recieved 10 of these books this way. We have also worked out a deal to call him through the prison chaplain's office, once a quarter. We would love to talk to him more but I cannot recieve collect calls here (even in my home) due to the agreement the base has with the Italian phone company.

If all goes well, Steve will be released to a work study program sometime in the summer of 2004. He will be moving back to Illinois to be near family and eventually near us when we get back from Sicily. The separation from dad has been hard on the boys and we count the weeks until we can get some sort of (I almost said normal hahahaha) close family routine set up.

I am still set on buying some property in Southern Illinois sometime next year. I have two years and three months left until I both leave Sicily and am eligible to retire from the Navy. My twenty year anniversary is November first of this year! I go back and forth every week over whether I will retire in 2005 or not. On one hand, I am very ready to move into the civilian world. I am working on my finances so that I will be nearly debt free when I leave here (not counting car and house of course), which is coming along quite nicely. On the other hand, it would be very smart to take another duty station near where I plan to retire in order to get my feet back on the ground. There are several options in Illinois. I don't know. I think it will depend on whether I find property I like before I leave here.

Posted by DebC at July 18, 2003 10:51 AM

Comments

Posted by: MOM at July 18, 2003 1:17 PM

Posted by: Kim at July 18, 2003 1:46 PM

Posted by: Gramma Belva at July 20, 2003 2:13 PM