I was a bit nervous because October 13th was quickly approaching! Not only was it my son’s 18th birthday, but the day of actually getting to meet a friend for the first time face to face!
On the said day of our visit, my nervousness quickly dissipated as I was escorted into the holding cage where our visit was to take place. Because on the other side of the shatterproof glass was a fiery red haired Dina with a warm and friendly smile! We ended up having an awesome visit and my nervousness was just simply unfounded! One of the greatest parts of our visit was that Dina is as talkative in person as she is in her most welcomed letters!! Which is a great thing of course! Dina is also intelligent, strong minded and sharp as a whip!! At the end of our visit, I felt as if I have known Dina forever and as she was leaving I know Dina had become my second adopted little sister! Yep, sister Dina 🙂 I say little sister because all women stop ageing at 26! It’s true and I know so because someone very, very dear to me said so! 🙂
Unfortunately, I was not able to see her the following day before she left for home. But that’s ok because she was visiting with our good friend Thomas and I’m pretty sure their visit was just as awesome as our visit!
At about 14 days after my awesome visit I received a really wonderful and encouraging email from the Swedish Stranger! 🙂 Thank you Monica for your thoughts and picture of you and your friend! Yes ma’am, the picture came through perfect. I wish to also thank you for your true kindness once again. A rose is missing this time, but that’s because I believe a more detailed piece is in order for the Swedish Stranger 🙂
You know I couldn’t help but wonder what your friend’s name would be? So far I have come up with “Patch” and “Diamond” Early in my childhood we had a mare named “Pamper” because she was brown with large white splotches on her hindquarters which made it look like she had a pamper on! I must have been about 7 years old at that time. I’ve had 2 other good friends as a child, a German shepherd named “Jumbo” and a crow named “Arturo”! They were the best. Probably wondering how a kid ends up with a pet crow. Oh well I basically grew up in farms and ranches because of my father’s skills so I was a Good Ol’ Country Boy 🙂 When I was 11 years old, we moved to West Texas to a farm right on the Texas / New Mexico border. Seminole, Texas was the closest town so I went to Texas school.
One day, a baby chick was out of its nest and was wobbling around. So I looked around and found what I was looking for, a worm and a bug. I went to the chick and crunched the beetle between my fingers and stuffed it down its gullet. I remember finding it quite fascinating how it ate and how I was able to feed it! The worm also went through the same process as the beetle and down its gullet with my fingers.
My father soon walked up to me and saw that I was feeding the baby crow with a grin on my face. I looked up at him figuring he’d be proud or something but my grin met a disapproving look. You see, old culture Mexicans tend to be very superstitious. I can only imagine what he was thinking of me at that time. I wasn’t a spoiled child, far from it, but I found myself crying and begging my father to let me keep it until it flies. After the “it’s your responsibility” talk I was allowed to rear Arturo. That’s how it came about to having a pet crow named Arturo 🙂 Unfortunately, out of ignorant superstitions, my black feathered friend came to a tragic death a few months after I taught it to fly. We were not the only Mexican family living on that farm.
My proudest moment with Arturo was on his first flight and when I’d call out to him he’d land on my arm!
Please find a photo of the Texas Stranger for you.
“Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light”
© Copyright 2011 by Arnold Prieto Jr and Thomas Bartlett Whitaker.
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LRS
December 20, 2011 at 9:10 amWhat a lovely man you seem to be. You are incredibly grateful for your pen pals and friends. I would have loved a rose from my pen pal, a stick man, or even just anything to show he cared. But I did not receive anything. Sadly most times not even a simple thank you. It broke my heart. I hope most convicts take a leaf out of your book. Keep being kind and grateful towards people who care about you. It really will make you, and them feel fantastic. I really cared about my friend, but the friendship was unfortunately very one sided. I still believe in him, and all the people sitting on Death Row. I know you are not the same people who were convicted all those years ago. People change, and for the better. I hope one day America will stop the madness. I suffered a horrible crime when I was 16, (Something I rarely speak about) Four people I know have been murdered. Nonetheless, I do not wish their killers any harm. I hope they get the help they desperately need. Killing them will only cause more pain, to their family members. Who are the innocent ones. Plus it will not bring anyone back. It's just revenge, nothing else. Revenge killings which do NOT work. Texas, please realize this. Society can be protected from certain people being behind bars, for years or life. There is no need to murder someone to prove murder is wrong. It makes no sense. I hope one day, Governor good hair, will be there to participate in an execution. Then I truly hope he will realize just how incredibly wrong killing lovely, kind, healthy and incredibly smart human beings is. I now help homeless people, abused women, and pregnant teenagers. I feed them every Sunday, and spend time listening and counselling them. They love me and my help. I also love them andthe lessons they teach me. Merry Christmas to the blog owner, Arnold, the person who types this amazing blog, and to all the nearly 200,000 readers. Wowzers 🙂