Being home

Five days on home confinement so far, and I have to say, "life is good!!" There are so many things I can do and I'm loving it! I am married to my house phone (the rrc does call at any time they want to check to ensure I'm home --- midnight, 3am, 6am, 10:30am, noon, 3:00pm, 6pm, etc. They only call 2-3x per day, but I never know when the phone will ring). I always get a call that wakes me up.

Sporty set up a nice home for me to come to. It's a 70's rental townhome, so the floors squeak with every single step. Even little superdog can't avoid squeaking the floors. At least no one sneaks up on me!

My room seems huge to me, even though I don't have the master. In fact, my full size bed feels enormous. I roll over and don't hit a cinder block wall!!! I am still working on getting my room set up, but I take little steps every day. I have boycotted making my bed for a couple days, but I hate walking in my room and not having my bed made, guess I'll have to find something else to boycott.

Superdog follows me everywhere and sleeps next to my bed. She always slept with T.S. when she's home (which she is for the summer), but ever since my second day here, she barely leaves my side. I haven't lived with her in 3 years, so maybe she thinks if she keeps an eye on me, I won't leave her again. I don't know, but having the constant companionship of a wonderful dog makes home confinement much more tolerable!

I am able to get fresh air. My house phone in my pocket, I can sit just outside my front door, let Superdog relax with me, and enjoy being outside. I wish I could take walks, but that is not allowed.

I am still working out, though. Actually, it took me a couple days to get back into my daily habit. I discovered free workout videos on comcast on-demand. Many need weights and things I don't yet have, so I've stuck mostly to Pilates and yoga. It feels good to continue that morning tradition. 

Food is amazing!!! I forgot how good things could taste!!! This week's highlights include pizza, Chinese, chipotle, real salad, salami and provolone sandwich, ice cream, cheese omelette, home-made waffle, bacon, raisin bran cereal, taco salad, edimame, and Arizona Arnold Palmer tea/lemonade. It's a good thing I am working out!!! I've actually lost weight.

I've left the house only once. I had to drive myself to/from the rrc (3 hours total driving). My appointment there lasted 10 minutes. What a waste of gas. But it got me out and back being comfortable driving. I listened to radio and heard some current music. I'm really behind the times now. I'll repeat that trip 7 more times. Instead of counting down hamburger days, I will count down trips back to see my CW.

I've been enjoying catching up on some movies. I watched Hunger Games 2 and Frozen, so far. Oh, and just the first episode of the second season of "Orange is the new Black." I've been asked by tons of people if I think I could handle watching it. I said, " hell yes, it's hilarious..." I actually really want to watch it, but in just the first episode I was thinking, "wow, yep, that's pretty accurate," a couple times. The first episode lacked the humor and really went for the drama. I'm sure the humor will be back soon. Or, perhaps, I couldn't see the humor in something I just lived through. Although, I really saw humor every day living the reality of prison. As we would say, "you can't make this s**t up!"

I have started my job of doing everything to get back in school. I officially have a meeting with the associate dean of the graduate school and have reached out to a couple professors to talk with. The ultimate decision to let me in school lies at the departmental level, so hopefully I'll get more meetings set up soon! I'm nervous, but know I can do this!!

Survivor did a nice job on my finances and it looks like I can sustain paying minimums on my bills for two months while I work everything out. That's with the incredible generosity of many friends who donated funds to me while I was away and Sporty allowing me to share the townhome for free for a while. Everyone's generosity does not go unnoticed!!! Thank you friends!!!!!

In fact, friends have been stopping by, and it's been wonderful. I've seen Cashe a couple times (even watched some Doctor Who!). Joy, Traveler, and others have also stopped by. It's so nice to see them!!! For me, it doesn't seem like almost a year passed, but catching up, I realize how much their lives have moved forward. My perspective seems to be that life just stopped 10 months ago, but for others there are new babies, dissertation proposals defended, graduations, new jobs, people moving, new relationships, and so much more!! Even though I learned much of these things in letters, somehow it wasn't as real to me until I was home.

I think this month of home confinement will go by quickly. I'm keeping myself busy. I'm enjoying downtime with T.S. and reading recovery books with Sporty. Tomorrow is my 6 year G.A. recovery anniversary. I have permission to go to a meeting. Slowly, life is getting more and more "normal."

I had a hard time figuring out which remote went to which device.