Visitations from Prison | Noah’s Story

Visitations from Prison | Noah Bergland | construction2style

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Hey all, Noah here.

The last couple of weeks, I’ve been lucky enough to get visits from both my siblings and their families. First was from my brother, his wife, my nieces, and my daughter.  Then this week my sister visited with my two nephews.

Visitations from Prison | Noah Bergland | construction2style

Both visits were a blast, it is beyond awesome to spend time with my nieces and nephews.

It really hit me this visit that my first born niece was only one years old when I left to come into prison. The rest of my nieces and nephews have all been born while I’ve been incarcerated.

Visitations from Prison | Noah Bergland | construction2style

So basically every one of them only knows uncle Noah as the uncle who is in prison.

I can’t dwell on the past. I can only look forward to the future.

But what I can do now is to start to plan to be a better presence in their lives upon my release.

Visitations from Prison | Noah Bergland | construction2style

One new thing I have picked up lately in treatment is setting expectations for my release, and I exercised this in both my visits.

I could tell in these last visits that both of my siblings were hanging on to a couple of concerns and were both reluctant to bring them to the surface.

Being able to identify these issues now, face to face, we were able to address them, and I could then start to prepare for my release, as I am nearing a year from the door pretty soon.

In my first visit, I was able to see my daughter Melrose again who was just here a short time ago with my mom, but I hadn’t seen my nieces for almost a year, so we caught up after my youngest niece was able to warm up to me. It was nice to watch how well the girls play together, and it’s good to know that Melrose has a best friend in her cousin.

Visitations from Prison | Noah Bergland | construction2style

My brother, sister-in-law and I also had great conversations as we talked about the beautiful weather they seem to get every single year they come, my future relationships, living with mom and Melrose, working with Morgan and Jamie, and expectations they have for me when I get home. It was a really good conversation and I feel really good knowing I got to talk through these things face to face.

I would have never thought to ask what they expected of me before treatment.

It always seems easier to avoid the questions and just cross that bridge if I screw up again. We had some excellent conversations though that made me even more optimistic of my situation once released.

My next visit was from Morgan and the boys.

Visitations from Prison | Noah Bergland | construction2style

First, we started it off right as the officers in visiting waves me over when my sister is at the vending machine, and asks if Morgan has something different in the car to change into after being there for an hour.

Morgan’s booty wasn’t hanging out, but I guess her skirt was too short. We had a good laugh, and she went out and put on some pants. haha! She said she even read the apparel rules for visitation yet again after visiting here for a handful of years and thought she followed them. Add that to the list of my family wardrobe issues while visiting to make for good laughs! So yet again, you just never know and you might always want to have a change of clothes in the car just in case. haha!

Visitations from Prison | Noah Bergland | construction2style

Then Greyson started asking when they were gonna go swim in the pool within the first hour and I knew we were in for a long night.

Beckam blew out the two diapers that Morgan brought in within the first two hours and he smelled delightful the rest of the night, the poops were green to top it off, and there was even a stain on Morgan’s leg by the time they left.

I guess it was the first time Morgan got to see Yankton in the summer and the weather was beautifully sunny and low to mid-80s. We went out and enjoyed visiting outside where you can see a good portion of the compound which looks like a park, with hundreds of different trees and probably close to a thousand different flowers. One of the associate degree programs they offer here through Mount Mart is horticulture.

The second day started off right as Greyson redeemed himself right off the rip and said his two favorite places to visit are Florida and Uncle Noah, haha (Morgan must have given him a pep talk about not hurting Uncle’s feelings).

We played Candy Land, Memory games, Blockus, and a few more board games that are laying around with half the pieces missing. I think Greyson’s Christmas list grew at least 3-4 items.

Beckam never came all the way around and let me hold him, but there were plenty of high fives and laughs. Everyone always assumes that Beckam is my kid as well if the individual doesn’t know me well because we look so much alike.

Morgan and I were able to talk plenty of work, what she will expect of me at construction2style, where I will fit in, and where she is trying to go with her brand. I can’t wait to get home and get started, I am ready to hit the ground running, and do whatever she needs me to do to get her where she wants to go. I also told her I would start to write more and commit to two stories a week, so I hope you guys look forward to hearing more of me!

From the inside,
Noah

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[…] Noah here back again. We’ve talked about visitations in prison from both my personal perspective and Morgan has shared her perspective from an outsider visiting family, but today I wanted to […]