I Got Him!

I Got Him!!

I arrived in Missouri on Thursday, January 16th, and stayed with Dominic Box’s mother, about an hour from the prison.Dominic is another J6er that was being held in the DC jail, and it was wonderful to stay with his mom, both of us hopeful for the coming days. Dominic and Taylor met in the DC Gulag and spent more than four months together.  He also called into the Sunday Devotional pretty often, where I was able to get to know him well.  I love him, I love his mom…they have become family to us. As I write this post Dominic is still in custody, waiting to be released from this J6 horror. My heart aches for him and his mom.  There are a few other J6ers that are still left behind. There are many that are fighting for these men… It’s heart breaking to know that they are still captive while so many are free…  Heartbreaking.

I went to visit Taylor during the weekly visitation at the Springfield Federal Prison on  Saturday and Sunday, January 18th and 19th. These visit was very different than the few visits we had had in the past. There was hope in these visits.  We were not 100% sure that he would be coming home to us, but we had high hopes. 

Monday I spent the day with the wife of another J6er. Her husband was in the same prison as Taylor and we had gotten connected months before, and now were finally able to meet.  We were also with a few other supporters, who were incredibly helpful, and would provide lodging for us for the next couple of days. We met Saturday morning around 10am and watched as the inaugural day proceeded. The Bass Pro Shop in Springfield is minutes away from the prison so we paced the halls and sat at their tables as we waited for the thing that we were hoping for…. 

Many of you know the events of that day and the anticipation that many of us were feeling. There were many changes to the President’s schedule, stating it was due to the cold weather, but I couldn’t help but think about safety concerns…he had already been shot at twice just months before! The day went on and on, and we waited and waited.

We had spent most the day hovering within about 2 miles of the prison, mostly in the Bass Pro Shop parking lot. Towards late afternoon we were starting to think that it wouldn’t happen that day, but probably the next. That was disappointing, but we were still hopeful. I checked my telegram app and started seeing that some of the J6ers were getting let out and that there was still lots of optimism that it would happen that night!. Then we heard that Trump was headed back to the Oval Office to sign some more things….we were sure that pardons would be there for the signings.   Finally we watched as Trump signed for the release of EVERY J6er, most receiving pardons, with a few that would get commutations.  This was everything that we had hoped and prayed for. I thought of all the people that I had met a long the way. So many people that were concerned that they or their loved one wouldn’t be on the list. This was incredible! 

After the announcement we went to the prison to see if we could pick our guys up. They told us it would take a little while, but that they had orders to get them out by midnight. Their case managers had to sign off on the paper work, so they had to call them back in to work. 

Hearing that response from the Bureau of Prisons was the first time that it really hit me that Taylor would be freed and that he would be freed that night! I sat in my car and every emotion burst out from my heart. I started to sob and could barely breathe. Everything that I had been holding back and carrying for over 4 years had erupted and I sobbed and sobbed. I sent out texts in between the bursts of crying, letting people know that he would be out that night! I called a couple family members and could barely breathe or speak. One text that I had sent out was to Hanah, the reporter that had interviewed me from the Atlantic. She asked about what was going on and had a lot of questions. She wondered when I would be able to see him, thinking and I was still in Washington. I told her I would see him that night and that I was within minutes of the prison. She was confused, wondering how I knew to be there on the 20th. I told her, well Trump said he would be doing pardons on the first day…she still seemed confused. She had mentioned how politicians always have campaign promises, but those are just campaign promises. I mentioned to her that that’s why so many of us like Trump…we believe him. 

We went back and forth to the prison in 30 minute increments until 11:00 rolled around and they allowed us to wait in the parking lot. Around 11:30 we saw the silhouette of two men coming out of the front door. We ran out of our cars and out to the front lawn where we were able to embrace our free husbands. Taylor had a large prison bag, mostly full of  books and letters, which he had hoisted on his shoulder. We walked back to the car with the large bag, not letting each other go.  We got to the car on that freezing January day, turned and looked at the prison and then looked at each other in disbelief.

I have more to share, but that is all for tonight…