A Thanksgiving surprise

I called Lancaster C.I. on Tuesday, November 24th and asked if they had received my visitation form yet. They hadn’t. I had mailed a form to Brevard on November 3rd and another to Lancaster on November 20th. Visitation forms could take up to 30 days to process.

The next day, I phoned Lancaster again at 11 a.m., hoping that they received my form and I might be able to visit Ted on Thanksgiving. I prayed a lot for that over the past week! They told me to call back at 1 p.m.

I called again at 1 p.m. I pretty much had given up hope that I’d be able to visit Ted on Thanksgiving, but thought I might get to visit him on Christmas.

I was transferred to Ted’s classification officer. She was extremely nice. She told me she had received the form and took the time to process it and to conduct the background check right over the phone! I now would be able to visit Ted on Thanksgiving Day!

I hurriedly packed. Before leaving, I checked the mail and found a letter from Ted. He had enclosed four more visitation forms. I knew he would have no clue whatsoever that I was coming!

I reserved a room at a small motel outside of Trenton and drove the six miles to Lancaster to make sure I could find it in the morning.

I was up very early the next day and got to the prison promptly at 9 a.m. Visitation hours were 9 a.m. until 3 p.m., although visitors could arrive at 8:15. I soon found out why someone would want to get there early. It took 45 minutes to process the initial visitation and 15 minutes more for Ted to arrive at the visitation room.

I finally saw Ted in person for the first time in 13 months! (At the county jail, we visited on a video monitor and even then, the last video visitation was on September 9th.)

Boy was he surprised! We were allowed to hug once at the start of the visit and once at the end of the visit. I stayed from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m.

Ted asked if I could come the next day too, so I got another room at a different motel (which was cheaper and nicer) and arrived the next day at 8:15 a.m. We visited on Friday from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m.

We talked for 11 hours over those two days! I found out a lot of information and heard some pretty horrific stories, which Ted will write about.

Both of us feel a whole lot better now.