I’m free at last! Oh, it feels soooo good to be home! I don’t miss jail at all. Just my Teddy Bear. It felt so good to finally be able to take a bath after half a year. To take a shower with real water pressure where I could adjust the temperature. To trim my pussy hair with scissors, rather than nail clippers. To sit on a plastic toilet seat, rather than a cold metal one. I even straightened my hair, though I don’t intend to make a habit of it.

I’ve either been too busy or too tired to write until now. I haven’t even jumped back on the Bowflex yet (I’m 119 pounds. Not quite the 124 I expected to be). At the same time I’ll be doing current journals, I’ll be typing up the Estrella journals, too. I was going to attach all of Tom’s letter, including the one to the bar association complaining about the public defender, to the bottom of the file, but I decided not to. Especially since I mentioned in enough detail the things Tom would say in his letters to me.

OK, I’ll write in order of events now.

Temple didn’t make it in to kick me out, but I don’t hold it against her. I’m sure she tried, just like Teddy Bear tried to get in Thursday, yet couldn’t get in till Friday. Instead, Beaudoin got the honor. She rarely worked M. She was dyky yet cool with a nice smile. She got a kick out of my impatience. I wasn’t pulled from M till 5:00, but it turned out to be a good thing because all I would’ve done was sit in the miserably hot, stinky holding tank. Instead, I dozed off. I was surprised. I didn’t think I could sleep with all the excitement, but it was only for an hour or two.

When she pulled me out, she told me to sit down in the dayroom and wait for an escort. I waited a few minutes till some guy came and got me. On my way out M’s door and down the hall, J’s door popped open and out came Pérez to say that she saw my name on the list and that she wanted to say goodbye to me. How cool of her! I’m so glad I got to say goodbye to her too, since she rarely worked M. She was definitely one of my favorites. In a year, besides writing to Palma, I’m going to drop Pérez a note, too. As for Rule, I’ll send her letter out as soon as I can find her rough draft, and as for Teddy Bear, I really don’t think she can stand to wait a year any more than I can. Not if she likes me as much as I like her, anyway, but I’ll just have to go along with whatever she does. She’s worth waiting many years for if I had to.

Anyway, I quickly said goodbye to Pérez in the midst of all the shock and excitement that my time had finally come, then I was brought past the control station, past visitation, past B and A Tower and to the intake area. Right before I reached the intake area, who should I run into but crazy Melinda herself. She was actually nice to me, though, wishing me good luck as I passed by her as she was mopping the hallway. I wished her luck, too. There was no point in being mean to her at that point.

It was weird, leaving and all. It’s like leaving a house you’ve lived in and leaving all your roommates behind. It’s like the day room was the living room, then you have the showers, then your rooms. All we didn’t have was a kitchen.

There were a couple of guys in intake I’d never seen before. No women DOs at all. It didn’t turn out to be the long, drawn-out ordeal I thought it’d be, but it was no quickie, either. I waited in a little holding cell with 8 others, 4 of whom were in their own clothes because they were only in for 24 hours. After a while, we were given bags containing our clothes. The DO put a sheet up over the door, then told us to change. After we were changed, we were called up to a little desk where our right thumbs were printed. Then, to further verify we were who we are, we were asked a few questions. I was asked my DOB, husband’s first name, and the state I was born in. Then I was given a couple of sheets of paper stating all the transactions within my account, refunded the little bit of money I had left over, then kicked out the door!

There was a small crowd of people outside waiting for others that were being released and fortunately, the media wasn’t there to hound me like I thought they might be. At first I didn’t see Tom, then he came driving up the drive. With tears of joy and excitement, I hopped into the car, we hugged and kissed, and away we went!

We stopped at Whataburger where I got chicken strips, but I wasn’t quite ready yet for Circle K’s coffee.

Not much has changed around Maricopa. Just a few new houses.

The garden Tom started in back looks great. The fence he has around it is nice, too.

Our land is now littered with those weeds I hate so much. The land is definitely better looking in the summer when it’s just dirt instead of weeds where there are no trees/bushes. It still needs more cactuses and a couple of palm trees. Just like Tom told me, a clump of weird things is growing by the stairs where I’d feed the p-dogs. We’re thinking it has to do with the seeds I’d throw out to them last year.

God, it’s hot out there! And it’s not quite over 100° yet. After 6 months of living in a refrigerator, I’ll have to readapt to this hot climate.