By Anthony Casson

I’m keeping this one short–quiet roads with gorgeous hills and trees are calling my name for an afternoon of cycling.

Despite my unfortunate position, I still wish everyone a very HAPPY FATHER’S DAY. As my dad has said, there are hundreds of thousands of people in prison, so I’m certainly not the only one without a guy to hug today. Life moves forward.

Funny, I just read a Tweet that said, “Happy father’s day to all the men that take care of their children no matter what the situation may be.” My dad fits into this category.

While he cannot influence–or protect–me directly, my dad takes care of my by simply doing whatever he can to get out of Oakdale FCI. I recently received a personal letter from him; he sounds completely optimistic and very passionate about researching more about the prison system–it’s the first time I’ve heard him so determined to know more about something…that’s the truth. He’s constantly calculating his tenure at Oakdale, figuring out the best thing to do to cut his sentence (all legal, of course); he’s embracing the “friends” around him and isn’t sinking into depression or a state of hopeless thought.

That must be where I get it from. This Casson-duo, no matter the life difficulty, always maintains a forward progression. Believe it or not, when we talk on the phone, we’re usually laughing or joking about prison–if we don’t, we’ll face excruciating pain.

So, things could certainly be worse, and that’s why I give a hearty shout-out to all those padres who do a damn good job at being men, dads.

If it wasn’t 10 a.m., I’d have a glass of whiskey in celebration…maybe in 10 more hours.