This is from our new friend of the blog, Frank, who has recently adopted an inmate. Watch for more from Frank in this series.

I find myself with extra time on my hands these days due to my health and I try to think of ways to make a difference. I remember my time being incarcerated and it was my rock bottom. I believed everyone forgot I was even alive, believed my children hated me and never wanted to see me again. But I had one person who, even if she didn’t feel like it, wrote me anyway. Sometimes her letters were just her daily routine written down and addressed to me, but it was meant for ME; I did still exist. This woman was my mother. I had eight months with her after I was released before she died.

As I write this, fighting off tears from the thought of my mother, I want to do for someone what she did for me day in and day out – help a fellow human being feel like they are worth being alive, and assure them many people do love them. 

Thank you