With your persmission, a few items to cover before returning to the topic of my journey of personal growth here at Taft.
Many of you have written to me saying how wonderful my Mom is. I could not agree with all of you more! My Mom has done so very much to make my stay here as pleasant as possible. As many of you know, she manages the "David Applegate Book Club" so that I always have interesting books to read but never too many at one time. She manages my Facebook and LinkedIn accounts for me so that I don't appear to have fallen into a black hole! She and Les come to visit me every month and then she writes a long post on how the visit went which my friends really appreciate. She prints out Facebook posts and comments for me and mails them to me. And the list goes on and on.
But recently she really outdid herself. My birthday is coming up on the 20th and a few days ago I received the most wonderful birthday gift from my Mom - a beautiful Shutterfly photo album filled with lots of wonderful pictures of many of the people I love and who love me! When I peeked inside the envelope and saw what it was, I knew it was something I would have to open when I was alone. I can't begin to tell you what an emotional experience it was to go through each page and see all the wonderful pictures. Of course, I cried like a baby - but mostly from happiness because of the wonderful people I have in my life. It reminded me how fortunate I am and that I'll have a wonderful life to go back to! And how wonderful it is to have a Mom who has stuck by me every step of this journey and loves me and is more proud of me than ever. How great is that????? I love you Mom!
And speaking of the book club, I remain so incredibly grateful for all the wonderful books I get. Ones that are incredibly thought provoking, ones that transport me to another world and ones that make me laugh out loud. I love them all! Thanks to Liz Segre, Linda Jorgenson, Grant Schildhouse, Gala Struthers, Charleen Jones, Anne Loomis, Marcie Heitzmann, Amy Jacobs, Clay Martin, Bridgette Birdie and Lisa May for sending books the past few months. I am so very appreciative!
A Quick Word on JPay
JPay is the messaging system here at Taft and I love getting messages from my friends, family and colleagues! When I get a message, I always respond within 1-2 days. JPay however is not a normal email system. With email, you hit send and you are done! With JPay, there is a two step (two screen) confirmation process. Dozens of people think they have sent me a message and wondered why I didn't respond only to find it still sitting in their JPay outbox weeks later! So if you think you have sent me a message and I didn't respond, check your outbox at JPay.com! 🙂 Also, when I send you a message via JPay, you get a notification email from JPay that you have a message from me. Unfortunately, experience has taught me that nearly all of these notification messages end up in junkmail folders. So if you were expecting a response from me but never got one, go to JPay and check your inbox! It's there! And don't forget to add jpay.com to your list of safe addresses!
I have also had a few requests for how to send actual snail mail to me. If you are so inclined, the address is:
David Applegate
A4A 63423-112
Taft Correctional Institute
PO Box 7001
Taft, CA 93268
And finally, go Serena!
David
