So today I arrived in Greenville after a 6 hour car drive from Hilton Head Island. I came back a day late because I lost my car key and after finding out that keys for Ford ZX2's are some of the hardest to make, I had to wait for my mom to send the spare key from Apex to South Carolina. It arrived this morning about 11:30 so I didn't get home until 6 and I sure am exhausted. And even though I missed a meeting today with a clinical social worker over at Maury Correctional, I know my boss will try his best to get it re-scheduled and I am very glad that I was able to spend time with my family. I love the closeness of my extended family. It's not just my step-mom's family that is close, relationally and geographically, but so are my mom's family and my step-dad's family. I just don't get to experience it as much because my family in Apex is the one family that is away from everyone else. And I understand why that is and I wouldn't trade growing up in Apex for anything, but I also very much enjoy the times that I get to be with my extended family.
Hilton Head is a wonderful time of the year and I enjoy every time I get to go. My step-mom's parents have had condos there since about 27 years ago and every year for one week the Shirley clan which has now become the Shirley-Mahaffie-O'Wings-Banta-Mulvihill clan gathers together. Most of the time is spent at the pool, the beach or eating together. We also play board games and watch movies and I love it all so much. And this year since all 19 of us were there we decided to take pictures on the beach together. Four generations dressed in white shirts and khakis on the beach.....so great.
But now I am back and having to transition back to work tomorrow. Waking up at 6:30 tomorrow won't be the greatest, but that's life. Before I finish this post I wanted to just say a little bit about work this past Friday. In the morning I did some filing, just putting documents into inmates' transitional folders. Then I was able to work in the mailroom. Earlier in the week, when staff heard I was working there they told me to prepare myself for what I might see. But I actually didn't see anything bad. The C/O (correctional officer) in the mailroom has worked there for the last 3 years or so and she pretty much has everything down to a science. First you have to organize the mail alphabetically, then label the letters with the Unit number, open them with her automatic letter opener (which is pretty cool), then take the contents of the envelope out, check the envelope and its contents for contraband, put the contents back in the envelope and then tape it back up. Many of the inmates received Father's Day cards. Some of them received letters (written in English and Spanish), others received pictures of families, and others received homemade pictures. There is a story behind every card and every letter. I was so curious to see what some people had written (sometimes I wanted to see if I could even read the Spanish) but I had to remind myself that outside of looking for contraband I shouldn't be reading people's mail. I know inmates lose many privileges in prison (such as the privilege of privacy), but I still wanted to give them as much as I could, while looking for contraband.
I enjoyed working in the mailroom because it was something different and because the C/O was very nice. I know she's probably tough around inmates but she said she liked having someone in the mailroom with her so she talked a lot and I enjoyed the conversation.
Well, this post is quite long. I'll end it here. Until next time!
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