News FeedA Message of Gratitude to my Wife
More than three months have passed since administrators transferred me from the camp at Lompoc to the camp at Taft. As I’ve written in various other articles, this move has been a good one for me. The living conditions are better than anywhere I’ve been since my confinement began, back in 1987. The one difficulty is that administrators offer fewer visiting opportunities here. A strict point system limits my wife, Carole, to visiting only three days per month. To compensate for the decreased time we’re able to spend together, I focus more on my writing. If it were not for my writing projects, a sadness and longing to embrace my wife would consume me. Connecting with others in society through the articles I publish on MichaelSantos.net and PrisonAdvice.com help me feel as if I’m leading a meaningful life. Yet these opportunities would not exist if I had not been blessed with Carole’s love and devotion. Although I have begun my third decade in prison, my life is so much richer because of all the ways that Carole loves me. I tell her how grateful I am at every opportunity. Sometimes, however, I feel the need to acknowledge my commitment to Carole more publicly.
Without direct access to the Internet or computers, I rely upon Carole to type the hundreds of handwritten pages that I write. Although she has a full schedule of studying to earn perfect grades in nursing school, Carole never neglects my work. It is because of my wife, and the financial support others donate, that I am able to focus on writing and prepare for the challenges I expect to follow my quarter century in confinement.
If every person in prison were so fortunate to have the love and commitment that I receive so freely from Carole, our nation would not suffer from such high recidivism rates. With a loving wife who devotes so much of her life to me, I am inspired to work hard every day. She makes me want to stay physically fit, to broaden my mind and improve my skills, to grow spiritually and emotionally. I commit to her every day, as I feel a deep need to prove myself worthy of the love Carole gives me. I know that this love does not come by accident. God has given me the incredible gift of my wife, yet it is my responsibility to work toward becoming the best man that I can become. She deserves all that I can give, because I know that every day, she is giving me all that she is and all that she can be. I am grateful, and I want the world to know of the gift I have in her love.
